20 million licenses of Vista sold but how many are happy with Vista? |
At least two sides to the Microsoft launch have emerged.
Today Microsoft published their “strong global sales” of Vista thus far:
Windows Vista license sales after one month of availability have already exceeded the total of Windows XP license sales in the earlier product’s first two months of availability. In January 2002, the company announced sales of Windows XP licenses had exceeded 17 million after two months on the market.
That’s all well and good for those that Vista is working well for, but that hasn’t been our experience thus far. I’m still using XP Pro on my main system and have no desire any time soon to upgrade to Vista. I’m not alone.
I read Microsoft’s press release after reading Hmm reader Ann Hudd’s comment earlier today:
Have found Vista a nightmare. Bought new HP PC (2gb RAM, 400gb HD, Intel 6300 @ 1.86 Ghz) with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. In 4 weeks have done 4 factory re-sets. Can’t burn discs. Can’t open discs. Camcorder (Canon MVX20i)not recognised. Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker have never worked. Right from first installation get message “Windows host process (Rundll32) has stopped working”. I use dial-up internet and literally can no longer afford (being on 5th factory re-set) to download necessary downloads (including Norton Security which I never want to see again). Top notch all-in one printer (C5180) takes 2 hours to download necessary drivers -can’t afford to do this every week, on top of the drivers needed for absolutely every other thing I want to run/install. Only software managed to run on previous installations was Ulead VideoStudio 9 which also managed to burn discs - Hurrah!
Hurrah, not.
So there is the Microsoft experience and customer experience. The numbers might make MSFT investors happy but I’d be more concerned about what customers are saying. Microsoft had a long time including some very public beta testing to get Vista right and comments from others I’m reading and my own personal customer experience don’t convince me they reacted to the feedback very well. I’m thinking the ‘wow’ being experienced hasn’t been what Microsoft expected no matter what the initial sales numbers are showing.
I’m curious how many are happy with Vista? Before hitting publish I poked around to see what others were saying and like the people I know found more cynicism than optimism. Maybe I was looking for Microsoft love in all the wrong places.
Dwight Silverman points out the numbers Microsoft posted are for the consumer market only while business sales began some two months earlier.
Hunterstrat wants more Vista comparison: “The only real question here is how much more per unit will Microsoft be receiving for Vista than XP and Microsoft isn’t issuing press releases on that topic.”
Chris at Hacking Cough smells spin: “But the reality is, Microsoft’s total of 20 million Vista shipments for the first month of sales is nothing out of the ordinary and is a long way from the “splash” that the company has claimed for Vista’s debut.”
As mentioned above, the Vista commentary I’ve received from both people I know and don’t know has been more negative than positive. If you’re using Vista are you happy? Why? Why not?
Did this post make you go hmm?
(Hmm, no ratings yet)
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Blame the freaking hardwarebuilders instead, they are lazy/dumb/idiots that doesn’t release/update new drivers for Vista.
They have had over a YEAR todo it but due to lazyness, idiots and similar they haven’t.
I run Vista on all my machines, different hardwares, different builders and NOT a freaking problem thanks to GOOD hardware.
It isn’t microsoft fault for the customer getting bad hardware/drivers.
I hope MS kills XP tomorrow fully so people can move to the best OS on the market.
Comment by Forser — March 27, 2007 @ 12:15 am PST
Oh, the manufacturers definitely share the blame, Forser, but Microsoft calls these people “partners” and in doing so should work with them better to make sure that experiences like AnnHudd’s don’t happen.
Comment by TDavid — March 27, 2007 @ 6:02 am PST
Whose fault is it if Apple doesn’t release a stable version of iTunes on time for Vista? While Microsoft is capable of influencing some of its partners, I don’t think it can influence all of them. There are so many of them out there. It’ll take 6 months to a year for all these hardware problems to be ironed out.
Comment by shravan — March 27, 2007 @ 10:29 am PST
Shravan - Not saying Apple is any better, but am saying that while they’re posting the launch numbers their press release conveniently is missing the other side of the story. I don’t think the number of complaints can be attributed to a very small number of customers, but maybe it can be.
Comment by TDavid — March 27, 2007 @ 11:05 am PST
The press release is only marketing spin from the company. But what I’m saying is that it’s in Microsoft’s interests to ensure that all hardware devices work with their OS at launch and I’m sure they worked hard to ensure that. There’s only so much that Microsoft can pressurize its partners and if these companies choose not to release drivers on time, I don’t think one can blame Microsoft for it.
Comment by shravan — March 27, 2007 @ 11:12 am PST
Shraven - Microsoft had over five years to get their operating system right. Read AnnHudds complaints carefully and tell me that none of those concerns belong at Microsoft\’s doorsteps. And who do you blame for shoddy window prompt design? Watch the video I made of the 50+ windows spawned for the same error. Couldn\’t they design the system so that only one error window is thrown for the same error? I know they could hook something in to stop crazy stuff like that from happening. These are just a few small examples and there\’s plenty more out there if you look around.
Comment by TDavid — March 27, 2007 @ 11:47 am PST
When it comes to the drivers, it is the partners, same goes for 3rd party software.. They have had over a year to fix but did they do it? NOOOO ..
I have moved to Vista and i am sticking to Vista, Nothing will move me backwards.
Comment by Forser — March 28, 2007 @ 12:17 am PST
After all the blogs going on and on about how bad Vista is and then MS releases news that Vista sales are double what XP was after a month of it coming out confirming that all that work into bashing Vista didnt work. Im laughing my ass off because complaining didnt work and I love it.
I was one of the beta testers and have been using Vista for over a year and I couldnt imagine ever touching XP again. I am another that have had plenty of success with Vista and havent had a problem with drivers or hardware.
Comment by Matt S. — March 28, 2007 @ 7:25 pm PST
I’m a freelance computer repair guy, and every Vista PC I’ve come across has been a nightmare. I don’t think any one element, hardware or software or otherwise, is to blame, but all of them together are like a nest of toenails digging into the soft and gullible flesh of the average consumer. In the state that these computers are coming from the companies, sometimes not even booting out of the box, loaded with sanctioned trial spyware and the lot of it, most people are set up for a living nightmare straight off. The manufacturers aren’t helping the process.. though the individual hardware vendors have been, if you can find out the specific details and versions of your computer’s hardware.. a trick and a half to find from hp or dell or whathaveyou, especially if it’s a laptop. It seems like they make a concerted effort not to list various XP drivers even though they are usually freely available from the hardware manufacturers’ sites..
So actually, there are a few reasons I should thank Vista… and I’m sure service depts. in stores like Best Buy are making a racket as well. My job lately has been researching driver arrays for peoples’ vista animals and making nice custom-made themed out key-integrated nLite XP CD’s for each computer I do, with firefox and AVG and the whole nine yards on the disc.
PEOPLE SEEM TO BE VERY APPRECIATIVE OF THIS SERVICE. It’s usually somewhere along the lines of “holy crap, I have my computer back..”
Now, I would be tempted to redeem Vista if it would be more apt to working with the Vista version of nLite, vLite, and one was able to go through and take out most of the useless caca (technical term) and MS spyware eating the back of these poor computers’ brains in vista.
Incidentally, so far I have even been unable to install a test copy of Vista on one of my XP boxes… no matter what I did.. no matter what computer.. no matter what type of media…
There are probably still shards of one of those blighted discs somewhere in the corners of my office…
So my advice for future generations of die-hard XP fans - it CAN be done!
I personally think somebody should subpoena some of the computer manufacturers to get better hardware support for XP, and maybe Microsoft to cough up some XP keys for “Satisfied Vista Users” (microsoft doublespeak for “suckers”)..
The irony of it all is that to fix these brand new Vista boxes people are digging up old dead carcasses from XP era pc’s… at least I am. Most important part of a dead computer, by wot!
Regards,
- B
Comment by Brendan — September 6, 2008 @ 4:46 pm PST