It’s common knowledge for a while now that corporate users of XP are refusing to move to Vista and twice now MS has put back the date where it would no longer support XP. Corporate users have a lot of clout where Home users would just be left in the cold.
So for a while now MS has been selling Vista and Corporations have been installing XP. MS counts each license sold as a Vista success where in reality it’s anything but. Now it appears MS has made public that it will support downgrading it’s new OS to XP or Vista. Read here. That must be a blow for them.
So we wonder why. Well firstly Corporate users will not jump to a new OS from a very popular OS like XP without several months of trials. Sometime they are years behind. So with XP already being obsolete (officially) that is a major problem. Interestingly enough Corporate user have access to the MS Beta test programme so they get advance copies of the latest releases. I would guess from this that they are not happy with what they see in the next version and MS are trying to stop them from taking an unprecedented step. That step being for them to look at a new desktop OS, probably based on Linux and not MS bloatware.
So when they say ‘This means the only updates and bug fixes these products will get will be to improve security’ I find myself doubting it. Sure it will be the aim but if big enough corporates start pushing them MS will bend whilst pretending to the world that everything is OK.
After all what do we really do with our computers nowadays. Most of us use it to write letters, browse the web, process a few photos and play a few games. All but the games can be done on other OS’s and much cheaper and once the user base for other OS’s takes off then the games companies will make their games work on those. After all it’s simple enough for them if they don’t rely too much on MS API’s and even if they did they would soon be able to modify it.
So, all those fed up with Vista and just using WP and browsing the web, I’m one of those ackward people still using XP, have a try of some new versions of Linux instead of upgrading your computer. Some you can try from a USB stick. With the bloatware out of the way you won’t believe how fast it is.
I wonder how much MS spent on Vista and Windows 7? Not money well spent I think. From NT which was popular to XP which everyone loved to Vista that everyone hated and now Windows 7 which doesn’t look too good. A big problem for them. After all you don’t actually need to replace your PC every two years unless you buy the latest bloatware to use up all those CPU cycles. It’s not like the new OS are a must buy product since most of the new features are hardly every used. It’s only the bugs in it that force you to upgrade. A good marketing model for them.
Sell an OS. Make some money. Fix some bugs. When the money starts dropping off. Sell an upgraded OS. Make everyone aware of the bugs in the first model which btw we will no longer fix. It’s not like the OS wears out and without upgrades there would be no more money coming in.
Only problem comes is where the upgrade is more trouble that sticking to the old OS. Time to look for a new supplier. Ooops.
Now as an aside. Why is it big corporations led by strong determined leaders seem to hit problems when left with those that want to make a few changes. Look at what happened to GEC when Lord Weinstock left. I’m sure there are others and now MS with Gates leaving? Just thinking out loud.
Microsoft running scared?
It’s common knowledge for a while now that corporate users of XP are refusing to move to Vista and twice now MS has put back the date where it would no longer support XP. Corporate users have a lot of clout where Home users would just be left in the cold.
So for a while now MS has been selling Vista and Corporations have been installing XP. MS counts each license sold as a Vista success where in reality it’s anything but. Now it appears MS has made public that it will support downgrading it’s new OS to XP or Vista. Read here. That must be a blow for them.
So we wonder why. Well firstly Corporate users will not jump to a new OS from a very popular OS like XP without several months of trials. Sometime they are years behind. So with XP already being obsolete (officially) that is a major problem. Interestingly enough Corporate user have access to the MS Beta test programme so they get advance copies of the latest releases. I would guess from this that they are not happy with what they see in the next version and MS are trying to stop them from taking an unprecedented step. That step being for them to look at a new desktop OS, probably based on Linux and not MS bloatware.
So when they say ‘This means the only updates and bug fixes these products will get will be to improve security’ I find myself doubting it. Sure it will be the aim but if big enough corporates start pushing them MS will bend whilst pretending to the world that everything is OK.
After all what do we really do with our computers nowadays. Most of us use it to write letters, browse the web, process a few photos and play a few games. All but the games can be done on other OS’s and much cheaper and once the user base for other OS’s takes off then the games companies will make their games work on those. After all it’s simple enough for them if they don’t rely too much on MS API’s and even if they did they would soon be able to modify it.
So, all those fed up with Vista and just using WP and browsing the web, I’m one of those ackward people still using XP, have a try of some new versions of Linux instead of upgrading your computer. Some you can try from a USB stick. With the bloatware out of the way you won’t believe how fast it is.
I wonder how much MS spent on Vista and Windows 7? Not money well spent I think. From NT which was popular to XP which everyone loved to Vista that everyone hated and now Windows 7 which doesn’t look too good. A big problem for them. After all you don’t actually need to replace your PC every two years unless you buy the latest bloatware to use up all those CPU cycles. It’s not like the new OS are a must buy product since most of the new features are hardly every used. It’s only the bugs in it that force you to upgrade. A good marketing model for them.
Sell an OS. Make some money. Fix some bugs. When the money starts dropping off. Sell an upgraded OS. Make everyone aware of the bugs in the first model which btw we will no longer fix. It’s not like the OS wears out and without upgrades there would be no more money coming in.
Only problem comes is where the upgrade is more trouble that sticking to the old OS. Time to look for a new supplier. Ooops.
Now as an aside. Why is it big corporations led by strong determined leaders seem to hit problems when left with those that want to make a few changes. Look at what happened to GEC when Lord Weinstock left. I’m sure there are others and now MS with Gates leaving? Just thinking out loud.