Save XP!
InfoWorld is hosting a petition to Microsoft to save XP and continue to sell it past the middle of this year. You can sign their petition . I signed the petition, but the real petition for MS may be the numbers coming in for XP sales, which are still strong. On this Amazon bestsellers page, as of 2/1/08, places #1,2,3,5 where XP and only #4 was Vista. IT News builds on my Amazon analysis:
Gates, in
Las Vegas Sunday, boasted that Microsoft has sold more than 100 million
copies of Windows Vista since the OS launched last January.While
the number at first sounds impressive, it in fact indicates that the
company's once dominant grip on the OS market is loosening. Based on
Gates' statement, Windows Vista was aboard just 39% of the PC's that
shipped in 2007.And Vista, in terms of units shipped, only
marginally outperformed first year sales of Windows XP according to
Gates' numbers -- despite the fact that the PC market has almost
doubled in size since XP launched in the post 9-11 gloom of late 2001.Speaking
five years ago at CES 2003, Gates said that Windows XP in its first
full year on the market sold more than 89 million copies, according to a Microsoft record of the event....A survey published by InformationWeek last year revealed that 30% of corporate desktop managers have no plans to upgrade their company's PC's to Vista -- ever.
As de facto IT manager for my company, you can include me in that 30%. My other posts on Vista here.
Update: Face-saving suggestion for Microsoft: Rename XP as Vista Lite or some such. Then they can keep it and claim 100% acceptance of Vista.
