Windows IT Pro is the leading independent community for IT professionals deploying Microsoft Windows server and client applications and technologies.
  
  
  Advanced Search 


November 05, 2009

Windows 7 Sets Sales Record

RSS
Subscribe to Windows IT Pro | See More News and Analysis Articles Here | Reprints | Or get the Monthly Online Pass—only $5.95 a month!
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described Windows 7's first ten days of sales as "fantastic" while in Japan yesterday. And while he didn't provide specific numbers, he did add that the first 10 days of Windows 7 sales generated more revenue than had any previous Windows version in the same time period.

Windows 7's torrid sales pace actually started well before the system became generally available, on October 22. In the previous quarter, Microsoft sold more copies of Windows than it had in any quarter in its history. Much of that was from Windows 7 pre-orders, though the company actually deferred reporting half of those sales for the current quarter.

Roughly 95 percent of Microsoft's customers acquire Windows with a new PC, and Windows 7 is expected to lead a tech industry rebound in coming quarters. "People don't buy operating systems, they buy computers with operating systems on them," Ballmer noted, saying he is now "more bullish" on the PC market than he's been in many months.

Related Reading:

End of Article



Reader Comments
I think Balmer's quote "People don't buy operating systems, they buy computers with operating systems on them." says quite a lot about the problems encountered with upgrading. The lack of information from Microsoft from the beginning, as well as the blog postings about clean installs seem to support that. They seem more interested in selling Windows licenses with new computers than making it easy for those who are satisfied with their current hardware to run Windows 7.

yoshipod November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


Also they are punishing XP users who skipped Vista by not offering XP to Windows 7 upgrades without a clean install.

paulusar1 November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


While Steve Ballmer was in Japan, perhaps he could explain why demonstrations of Windows 7 crashed two separate times on nationally televised Japanese programs:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10383702-71.html?tag=mncol

nim55 November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


@ nim55:

No need to explain. Windows users expect it to crash.

After all, if it didn't, it wouldn't be windows.

infiniteloop November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


"After all, if it didn't, it wouldn't be windows."

Any OS can crash, you know. And Windows' crashing issues have improved over the years. Same with Macs. I remember the days in Middle School. OS 9 was a mean bugger at times with its crashing. I'd have to restart the whole computer.

Of course, that was then. As time has gone by, I'm sure Apple improved the situation with OS X, especially since it's a new code base.

In any case, it's possible that the system crashes in Japan weren't caused by Windows itself, but rather by drivers, in which case, the fault lies with the vendors and not with Microsoft.

NoNameAtAll November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


@NoNameAtAll:

If I was a betting man, which I am, I'd bet it was a driver issue. 99.9% of the time it's a poorly written driver.

jersey72 November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


"If I was a betting man, which I am, I'd bet it was a driver issue. 99.9% of the time it's a poorly written driver."

You're likely correct.

NoNameAtAll November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


If you follow nim55's link you'll see that Windows 7 didn't even "crash" during the demos, the touch just wasn't working. Probably because of driver issues (or maybe they forgot to get a touch screen? j/k).

jonathanmarston November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


"they are punishing XP users who skipped Vista by not offering XP to Windows 7 upgrades without a clean install."

Anybody with any sense can tell you it's much more punishing to try an in-place upgrade of Windows versions with different architectures. Trust me, they're doing you a favour by not allowing you to do that.

Waethorn November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


I can't think of a worse punishment than having to run any version of Windows.

infiniteloop November 05, 2009 (Article Rating: )


 See More Comments  1   2   3 

You must be a registered user or online subscriber to comment on this article. Please log on before posting a comment. Are you a new visitor? Register now




Top Viewed ArticlesView all articles
Battery Life Issues Almost Certainly Not Windows 7's Fault

While Microsoft is still investigating a notebook battery life issue that was supposedly caused by Windows 7, some interesting trends have emerged. ...

Confirmed: Battery Life Issues Not Windows 7's Fault

Microsoft on Monday issued a lengthy statement about the recent Windows 7 battery controversy, echoing my assessment from earlier in the day, but backing it up with hard, cold evidence. ...

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Follow these steps to use an iPhone with Exchange. ...


Related Events Deep Dive into Windows Server 2008 R2 presented by John Savill

Getting ready for Windows 7, eLearning series with Mark Minasi

Check out our list of Free Email Newsletters!

News and Analysis eBooks Getting Maximum Performance from Your Web-based Applications

Business Process Automation - Managing Cost in Your Enterprise

Related News and Analysis Resources Introducing Left-Brain.com, the online IT bookstore
Looking for books, CDs, toolkits, eBooks? Prime your mind at Left-Brain.com

Discover Windows IT Pro eLearning Series!
Clear & detailed technical information and helpful how-to's, all in our trademark no-nonsense format


Windows IT Pro Home Register FAQ for Windows WinInfo News
Europe Edition About Us Contact Us/Customer Service Media Kit Affiliates / Licensing  
SQL Server Magazine Office & SharePoint Pro DevProConnections IT Job Hound
Left-Brain.com Technology Resource Directory asp.netPRO ITTV Windows SuperSite 
 
 Windows IT Pro is a Division of Penton Media Inc.
 © 2010 Penton Media, Inc. Terms of Use | Privacy Statement