Teflon Windows

Forbes ^ | 01.29.07 | Daniel Lyons

[ShawTaylor]

Boston - Can’t anyone find anything nice to say about Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system?

-----snip-----

Funny thing though--go back to October 2001, when Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) released Windows XP, and you’ll find lots of griping then too. And some of it sounds eerily familiar. Pundits called XP a resource hog and “power mad” because it needed a 400-megahertz processor and 192 megs if you wanted fast performance. Shocking!

Our own reviewer, Stephen Manes, sniped about XP: “The world's richest chief software architect continues a record for design elegance unmatched since the Yugo. … If your current computer is working well, XP offers no compelling reason to replace it. And XP offers plenty of compelling reasons to avoid ‘upgrading’ existing machines.”

So what happened? Well, there are now 665 million copies of XP installed worldwide, giving it 74.3% share of the PC installed base. Other versions of Windows account for another 190 million units, or 21.6% share.

The Mac, for all of Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) snazzy advertising, has less than 1.6% share of the PC installed base. Linux, for all of the millions of column inches devoted to its wondrous abilities (many of those lines by yours truly), holds about 2.5% share. (All figures are from Gartner Dataquest.)

No wonder nobody at Microsoft seems too upset about the bad reviews of Vista. First of all, it’s easy (and fashionable) to talk trash about Microsoft. And it’s all too easy to overlook Microsoft’s achievements, like making operating system software that works well enough and is priced well enough to attract 96% of the world’s PC users. -----snip----- Microsoft’s two Internet TV channels drawing a combined 4.5 million viewers each month, the company doesn’t need to rely on the mainstream media.

[Space Wrangler]

3.....2......1........ And welcome to another MS vs Mac slugfest ladies and gentlemen.......

[Psycho_Bunny]

This article is based on false comparison and wholly disingenuous.

That or the author is just flat-out ignorant.

[LenS]

What the author doesn't mention is that it took some major work with Service Pack 2 to make XP work well. So those old reviews, just like the current ones for Vista, were right. There was no reason to go out and buy it. With MS, you always wait a year or two before you try out their "Beta" version of their latest OS.

Second point -- of course, there's a zillion copies of XP out there. Every major manufacturer included it on their new computers so as people bought new computers, more and more people had XP.

[American_Centurion]

Every major manufacturer included it on their new computers

Apple didn't, aren't they major?

[Psycho_Bunny]

Oh, puleeze.

[American_Centurion]

So they aren't major?

[paulat]

Silly article. Most PCs change out in about 3-5 years anyway...so if the OS shifts...no big deal.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

The last Microsoft OS that didn't have any major complaints against it when it was released was MS-DOS 5.0, to the best of my recollection.

[vox_freedom]

Leave it to Forbes to come up with a feeble attempt to defend Microsoft's Vista.
Vista is a big "yawn" that takes up too much hard drive space and costs a bundle for very little in return.

BTW, slamming Macintosh/Apple for being a small competitor is not going to help PC sales and convince folks to buy a new operating system.
Vista, by all accounts, is a loser. Hey, don't ask me, ask Steve Balmer who has already said that Microsoft will revise its earning estimates...

[Mr. Blonde]

The power of inertia will keep a lot of people on Windows. That and their work computers most likely being PCs.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Seriously. Don't be a bore.

[ShawTaylor]

"This article is based on false comparison and wholly disingenuous."

Like what?

"That or the author is just flat-out ignorant."

And you are not?
You coulda fooled me.

[rlmorel]

Yep. Truer words were never spoken.

[DouglasKC]

The Mac, for all of Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) snazzy advertising, has less than 1.6% share of the PC installed base.

That's why I laugh when people say that they never get viruses on their Macs. It's not that people can't create them, it's just that there's no way for them to reproduce rapidly because there's so few of them out there.

[dhs12345]

I "love" the ads with the young kid in jeans (the Mac) and the old geeky guy (the PC).

Actually, the "kid" should be wearing a $2000 suit with lots of diamond bling-bling and with hundred dollar bills sticking out of his pockets.

The reason most of us chose the PC was because it was cheap. Yes, it has had problems. But, it has enabled a huge industry that has produced millions of jobs and has generated trillions in gnp, plus a new OS - Linux.

Now, is there a reason to upgrade to Vista -- heck no. Like my copy Word 2000, there is no reason. XP works just fine for me.

[rlmorel]

Oh yeah. Steve Ballmer (Monkey Man) admitted Vista sales were dismal, and intends to beef up WGA to combat piracy...that will fix it for sure.

[ShawTaylor]

"Leave it to Forbes to come up with a feeble attempt to defend Microsoft's Vista. "

# 1. The article did not defend Vista.
# 2. The article merely points out that the same things were said about XP when it was launched, and it went on to outsell any operating system in history.
# 3. There is nothing feeble about the Forbes facts and figures or about XP sales figures or the fact that Vista will sell even more than XP did.
#. If there is anything feeble here, its your weak kneed attempt at a critique of the article. You don't seem to have any substance in your critique.

[AFreeBird]

With MS, you always wait a year or two before you try out their "Beta" version of their latest OS.

Well, lets be fair here. After a year or two (or service pack or two), the shipping product it's no longer a beta, and has actually made it to a x.0 release.

You gotta admit though, getting people suckers to PAY, to beta test your product is: brilliant.