Celebrating Microsoft's 88 Million Copies of Vista
I think the Free Software community ought to share in celebrating with Microsoft their wondrous success in selling 88 million copies of Windows Vista... albeit from a different perspective.
Yes, Microsoft sold 88 million copies of Windows Vista. And really, the FOSS community should celebrate their success. Think about it. Despite all the negative reviews in the press, and the lackluster sales DSG International experienced, Microsoft still managed to dish out 88 million copies of their operating system. It's an accomplishment to be proud of.
Look, I know I've taken a harsh attitude toward Microsoft in the past. But I really do not want to steal their joy this time around. Oh, I know I could point to the responses to that ZDNet blog post above. If you read through those, you'll notice a significant number of people who report removing Vista, and in at least one case, involving a few hundred PCs. And it would be rude of us to mention the people buying PCs with Windows pre-installed, only to replace it with some GNU/Linux distribution as soon as they get home. And yes, even Microsoft realizes that many of those not switching to GNU/Linux are going back to Windows XP.
But Microsoft's not worried - it's all about the sales. The sales are positive, and that means Microsoft looks good for their fans and investors. O.k., so a few people rolled back to Windows XP. A few extra people suddenly discovered that GNU/Linux thingy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who cares? Microsoft sold 88 million copies of Vista! But even if the users don't use Vista, they bought it. Microsoft made their buck. All the bad press about Vista has now been rendered moot by the glowing sales of 88 million copies.
And, while they are celebrating the money from those 88 million copies, we can celebrate right along with them. We'll be celebrating the 2-4 % jump in desktop GNU/Linux users that results from the frustration of dealing with blue screens and Digital Restrictions Management - not to mention the sneaky updates and spying. We'll also be able to celebrate the lack of reporting on the number of attempts to get refunds when the software fails to work as advertised.
So, I'm not going to try to steal Microsoft's joy. I'll celebrate their 88 million copies sold. Of course, I'll be celebrating from a slightly different viewpoint - namely the number of their customers they'll help convert to Free Software. So let the celebrations begin!
Comments
Back to the future?
Think we all remember what happens when the DeLorean hits 88mph, this could end up being the same thing for OpenSource. Imagine...88 million people unable to use the software they paid for in advance...serious stuff :)
Eileen
Cost to Microsoft of many of those 88 Million copies
A friend of mine has a new computer, onto which I have installed Linux.
They were asking how could Microsoft _possibly_ make so much money selling Windows.
So I turned her laptop upside-down, and showed her the Genuine Microsoft sticker.
Since the OEM is the one that put an image of VISTA on the machine, and there was no box, no manual, no CD or anything else included that would be sourced from Microsoft, the cost to Microsoft for that copy of VISTA was in total the cost of that sticker.
Nothing else. Just a 1x2in sticker with a serial number on it.
It really doesn't matter what the OEM price for VISTA is, when the cost is virtually nothing. It's all pure profit.
If I could sell 88 million _pennies_ I'd be celebrating too!
Don't celebrate too hard ...
... otherwise you'll experience how it feels to be a computer running Vista in the morning.
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Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but give him a quoted company and peasants feed him for life.