Microsoft to claim Vista downgrades to XP as "Vista sales"
I’ve seen some sales fudging in my day but this one has got to take the cake. Dell, Lenovo and others are going to offer XP past the "expiration date" but Microsoft is still going to be counting those sales as Vista sales. Oh yes, it gets even better.
In the case of Dell it is taking advantage of an option that allows them to downgrade Vista installations to XP but technically speaking the computer is still being sold with Vista and Vista could be reinstalled at any time. Microsoft figures that this still counts as a sale of Vista and that’s exactly how its going to count it.
According to PC World,
"Dell will take advantage of a licensing option in Vista Business and Vista Ultimate that lets PC makers provide XP under the Vista license, which Microsoft calls a "downgrade" license. (Enterprises with site licenses have these same rights with any version of Vista.) In essence, the user is buying a Vista license that it can apply to XP, and Microsoft can still claim a Vista sale."
Some have spoken of Steve Jobs using a "reality distortion field" and now Microsoft has its very own. Windows Vista is XP, XP is Vista, it’s all the same; it’s all so very clear now. If only we knew this from the start.
Related Posts:
April 27th, 2008
Why is this any surprise? A license is a license. MS has done this for YEARS, even did it with XP (allowing “downgrade” to Win2k or even WinNT). Sorry, NOT news.
April 27th, 2008
So MSFT caught again skewing numbers, should we be surprised?
How about these numbers, 70 % feel Linux more secure, 18 % of engineers for embedded devices prefer Linux, WebReach serves some of the nation’s largest healthcare organizations releases Linux Mirth 1.7.1, 20% of mobile devices will be Linux by 2013, Linux might be installed on more than 125 thousand computers in Russian 42 thousand post offices, 52 million school kids to use Linux in Brazil.
Lets see how Steve and Bill can twist those numbers. Just do a Google under Linux click news and read it yourself.
April 28th, 2008
If XP is Vista, maybe Linux is Vista too ?-)
April 28th, 2008
Ilev:
Propably because Vista uses same kind of memory management like Linux where all the free memory is cached for programs.
XP can’t do that, there is always something like 90% ram not used! Why use operating system which doesn’t use all the resources what you have in you comp?
April 28th, 2008
Why is this any surprise? A license is a license. MS has done this for YEARS,
even did it with XP (allowing “downgrade” to Win2k or even WinNT). Sorry, NOT
news.
April 28th, 2008
DavidB is correct.
This has been going on forever, and a license is a license, MS gets the revenue either way. You can always downgrade with OEM business licenses.
Ralph:
There is no need to turn every thread that mentions Microsoft in to an evangelical Linux humping. It makes you seem like a rabid zealot, will not make anyone want to use Linux in case it’s catching and adds nothing to the conversation.
April 29th, 2008
Ken: Wrote
There is no need to turn every thread that mentions Microsoft in to an evangelical Linux humping. It makes you seem like a rabid zealot, will not make anyone want to use Linux in case it’s catching and adds nothing to the conversation.
————————————————–
So what IS Microsoft doing about the defections to open source? Pretending the problem doesn’t exist?
Microsoft doesn’t have a plan. Oops….
After all, whats a couple of hundred thousand lost customers here or there…another 20 thousand there, another 5000 lost there, look over here…. we only lost 300 customers.
While were at it, lets ignore Apple too, even though they are up 50%….since Vista was released.
Is that the “WOW” factor that Vista bought to the table?
I am sure the stock holders are pretending these problems don’t exist either. Glad I don’t own stock in that company.
June 5th, 2008
DavidB is wrong. Just because it’s happened before and he’s heard of it doesn’t make it “not news”. It’s new as long as people don’t know.
Earthquake in china? Well I heard of it and they’ve had earthquakes before. *yawn* Not news.
The OEM business deal doesn’t matter to a good chunk of the users. It’s a business deal for their money maker friends, not MS showing sympathy or respect to their costumers. Screw everyone else. What a sad joke.