Demand for Windows Vista PCs overwhelms retailers
Vista has been available for well over two months and if we were to believe Microsoft, they sold 20 million copies of it in 30 days. We have discussed this before and the general consensus is that this is the wrong number to be concerned with, what should be the concern is how many copies of Vista are installed and running. Sales are almost useless if people aren’t actually making use of the product.
That news and the fact that both Best Buy and Circuit City claim they can’t keep up with demands for Vista might make for some good news, especially for Microsoft. Best Buy said that demand for PCs equipped with Vista was up 10% and Circuit City didn’t have enough to meet demand.
At least part of the reason sales and demands for Vista PCs are up is because you can’t buy anything else from brick and mortar stores. Almost every single big box electronic retailer only has Vista PCs in stock, though you might get lucky and locate one with Windows XP, it is rare. You can still find Windows XP based computers from several online stores.
They don’t seem to be keeping track of how many standalone copies of Vista are being sold. I would be very interested to see that number but I am also aware of the fact the average home user is not going to bother installing their own operating system.
But things are not all sales, demand and glory in Microsoft land, some consumers are not happy with Microsoft’s tactics. Vista was supposed to be out last year and in lieu of that Microsoft began the “Vista Capable†and “Vista Ready†campaign. A Vista capable PC was usually only Vista Home Basic certified and unable to run the advanced Aero Glass GUI. A Vista Ready PC was able to run all the features of any edition of Vista.
This marketing ploy has been labeled by some as a “bait and switch†tactic and there are those who are willing to press the issue by filing a class action lawsuit against Microsoft. I don’t know which side really has a leg to stand on but I’m rooting for Microsoft.
It was a well known fact before Vista came out and way back in the Longhorn days that a dedicated video card would be required to run Aero Glass, plus 1GB of memory… a fast processor and so on. Again, all this information was readily available online. Then again, I come from a tech background and frankly, I have no idea how much the average person knows/does not know about computers. As far as I am concerned, it’s little more than common sense to look this stuff up first.
I almost don’t want to blame the consumer for this as it is so easy to blame Microsoft but the information in question was readily available on Microsoft’s website. Before buying any PC, it is your responsibility to know what you are getting and to never rely on the employees that work in the stores.
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April 7th, 2007
When I say you shouldn’t rely on the employees in the store, I mean to say that they may not know what they are talking about, they might not exactly be trustworthy even if they do and their job is to sell, sell… sell as is the case with certain yellow and blue stores here in the US.
April 11th, 2007
I quite disagree. It’s up to Microsoft to make absolutely clear what consumers are getting. Ordinary consumers shouldn’t have to try and figure out the technical details; it should be made fully and abundantly clear to people that “Vista Capable” doesn’t deliver the full Vista experience. The technical side is confusing enough without the weaselly wording of the marketers.
April 11th, 2007
I agree that the marketers do flat out lie most of the time… but who should the consumers rely on? Most of the review sites spout technical details that some may not understand so then they rely on the employees in the store and they lie either out of malice or just because they don’t know what they are talking about.
There needs to be a source out there that most consumers can understand and I dare say that not even the reporting done by PC World or PC Mag is acceptable to levels of understanding for the average user, some is and some isn’t.
In any case, users are going to have to do SOME research on their own though they may not need to know all the technical details…
April 14th, 2007
greg pringle, if you or others don’t know how to read or are to lazy to do that that’s not our or Microsoft’s problem.
What is a Windows Vista Capable PC?
A new PC running Windows XP that carries the Windows Vista Capable PC logo can run Windows Vista. All editions of Windows Vista will deliver core experiences such as innovations in organizing and finding information, security, and reliability. All Windows Vista Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum. Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista—like the new Windows Aero user experience—may require advanced or additional hardware.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/capable.mspx
Now if that’s not absolutely clear then we can fine every single company in the world.
October 8th, 2007
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