Vista Sales Perhaps Not as Dire as Feared
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UPDATED:  This morning, NPD told BetaNews that, after you compensate for a change in tabulation strategies over the past few years, what yesterday looked like a 58.9% decline in first-week retail sales for Windows Vista over Windows XP, might actually even out.
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Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system, goes on sale to business customers.
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Don't believe the spreadsheets Steve Ballmer has played down the hype surounding Vista sales saying some analysts have taken an overly optimistic view.â¦
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Microsoft's decision to pare back features of the upcoming OS is not bad news, some say.
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Despite underwhelming consumers and being snubbed by enterprises, Windows Vista's numbers keep growing.
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Microsoftâs description of the Windows Vista operating system is âClear, Confident, Connected.â But a more truthful motto would be âLooks, Locks, Lacks.â
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There are times when I feel like I'm in a tiny minority of people who don't hate Windows Vista.
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The software maker's Canadian Web site briefly posts prices for Windows Vista's many editions.
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Soft Vista sales and overenthusiastic factory construction are combining to deliver a nice present for those seeking DRAM bargains: Prices have tumbled to their lowest levels of 2007, and analysts say the fun may not be over yet.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft may be having trouble selling Windows Vista in retail, but its Office line is going like gangbusters, according to market research firm NPD Group. Part of the reason: People who switch from PCs to Macs. Office 2007 on Windows is selling at roughly double the rate its predecessor, Office 2003, did in its first months after release, NPD analyst Chris Swenson said Wednesday. "Any way you cut it, the first six months, or a similar January-through-July period, or the first week or even the first month [of sales], no matter how you slice it, Office 2007 is selling much better than Office 2003 did," said Swenson. And even though Office 2004 for Mac is far from new, Swenson said, it's also contributing to Microsoft's suite success. "Mac Office represents about 20 percent of all Office sales in U.S. retail. At first, that seemed really surprising, but if I'm switching to Mac, there are a few key [software] products I'm going to buy, and Office is one of them." In other words, even though they're leaving the PC behind and abandoning Windows, newly-minted Mac owners are still shoveling money at Microsoft, Swenson said. "Microsoft's still making the Office sale," he said. Swenson's data comes from NPD's monthly reports of software sold at major U.S. retailers such as Best Buy and CompUSA as well as data from the more than 180 Apple retail stores and a few online sellers, including Amazon.com and Buy.com. Mac switchers aside, Microsoft's unheralded success selling Office -- Swenson noted that it typically gets buried by the bad news about Vista's retail performance -- stems from smart pricing. "The most important thing is the pricing of Home and Student 2007," he said, talking about the $149 package that lets customers install the software on up to three PCs. "Eighty percent of all copies sold at retail are this edition," said Swenson. "When Microsoft came out with version 2.0 of [this package], it started seeing increases not only in unit volume, but also in dollars." Swenson was referring to the licensing changes Microsoft made to the student-priced edition in 2003 that bumped up the number of allowed installs in the same household from one to three. Second on Swenson's list of reasons for Office 2007's success is something Microsoft has little control over. "Part of it is clearly installed base," he said. "There are roughly 100 million more PCs now than there were in 2001, so even if the same percentage of users buy Office, sales go up." But if Office 2007 is outselling its forerunner, why did the company just roll out a $59.95 promotional price to students? "I think they want to drive demand for [Office 2007] Ultimate," said Swenson. "It's just not doing as well as Ultimate on Vista." The Microsoft promotion, which runs through April 30, 2008, is available immediately to enrolled students in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. who have a matching educational institution e-mail address. Next week, the program will expand to France, Italy, and Spain. Office Ultimate 2007, which lists for $679.95, includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher, OneNote, Groove, and InfoPath. Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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Europe's latest shot across Microsoft's bow shouldn't faze investors.
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Although Microsoft Corp. may not have the first service pack for Windows Vista ready at the end of this year as some expected, financial analysts say that a delay should not have a negative effect on enterprise adoption of the OS.
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Quarterly results suggest conditions may not be as grim as initially thought for the cruise company.
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Higher-end Home version of the Microsoft OS appears in PCs sold in first week of Vista's availability.
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Predictions are based on strong sales of Vista-equipped PCs and lower prices due to a CPU price war.
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Windows, Office software lead Microsoft to record stronger-than-expected sales, as online rival Google stumbles.
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A surge in sales of Windows-based PCs and laptops, prompted by the release of Vista, could push down Apple's market share in the first quarter of the year, according to Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster.