Microsoft has sold 40 million licenses for Windows 8 — just to whom?
This week, Microsoft announced that 40 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold. Western media are analyzing and commenting on this event:
Translation: Microsoft sells 40 million Windows 8 licenses - but whom to? - Stuart Johnston
Microsoft claims that 40 million users have already switched to Windows 8, but IT professionals doubt that many of these licenses were purchased by corporate users. IT professionals are still in doubt about the prospects for the introduction of Windows 8.
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The corporation has not yet provided any details about the structure of sales (final vs corporate users). Some IT professionals do not think that the share of corporate sales is significant.
“Even our sales representatives [Microsoft] said she was not ready for corporate use,” Miller added.
One of the main reasons is the completely redesigned OS interface.
Many users have not switched to Windows 8 for various reasons, such as the lack of support for old applications, as well as the obvious difficulties of learning a new user interface. In the foreseeable future, Miller plans to install Windows 7 on new jobs, rather than Windows 8.
The Forrester study, published in November , showed that IT professionals are only half interested in Windows 8, compared to a similar interest in Windows 7 three years ago .
One of the major problems for users is that Windows 8 deployment and management tools for IT professionals are still in beta and will not be available until Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 is released next year, the reseller said .
For comparison, in January 2010, Microsoft announced that it had sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses in the first 2 months of commercial availability — which made it the fastest-selling OS at that time. Now, Microsoft claims that early sales of Windows 8 exceeded this figure at the monthly level.
This suggests that sales of both systems are moving in the same direction, said Rob Helm, managing vice president, Directions on Microsoft, Kirkland, WA (Kirkland, Wash.)
Many of these licenses could be sold to distributors, but not yet purchased by end users, some observers have theorized. In addition, Microsoft license agreements allow customers to use Windows 7 instead of Windows 8, or buy systems with Windows 8 pre-installed, and then downgrade to Windows 7 or earlier systems. Despite this, Microsoft will still consider these licenses as Windows 8.
Others pay attention to significantly reduced Microsoft upgrade prices [to Windows 8], from $ 15 to $ 40.
CEO Steve Ballmer’s Windows 8 sales ambitions are even higher, say participants in the annual meeting of shareholders this week, where he expects 400 million PCs with Windows 8 to be sold next year.
Microsoft did not respond to requests to provide data on the structure of Windows 8 sales.
Source: itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/vista-enterprise-desktop/microsoft-sells-40-million-windows-8-licenses-but-whom-to
Another 2 interesting articles in the topic at ComputerWorld:
Translation: Microsoft sells 40 million Windows 8 licenses - but whom to? - Stuart Johnston
Microsoft claims that 40 million users have already switched to Windows 8, but IT professionals doubt that many of these licenses were purchased by corporate users. IT professionals are still in doubt about the prospects for the introduction of Windows 8.
')
The corporation has not yet provided any details about the structure of sales (final vs corporate users). Some IT professionals do not think that the share of corporate sales is significant.
“How did they manage to sell 40 million licenses so quickly?” Said Bill Miller, head of IT for South Carolina Dept. of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services. “I don't know if I can believe it. I do not know anyone who was in the process of updating. Most people say that they are not switching to Windows 8 ″.
“Even our sales representatives [Microsoft] said she was not ready for corporate use,” Miller added.
One of the main reasons is the completely redesigned OS interface.
Many users have not switched to Windows 8 for various reasons, such as the lack of support for old applications, as well as the obvious difficulties of learning a new user interface. In the foreseeable future, Miller plans to install Windows 7 on new jobs, rather than Windows 8.
The Forrester study, published in November , showed that IT professionals are only half interested in Windows 8, compared to a similar interest in Windows 7 three years ago .
“Although we have noticed enough interest in Windows 8, we do not yet have implementations at work,” said a representative of a large Microsoft reseller who wished to remain anonymous.
One of the major problems for users is that Windows 8 deployment and management tools for IT professionals are still in beta and will not be available until Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 is released next year, the reseller said .
For comparison, in January 2010, Microsoft announced that it had sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses in the first 2 months of commercial availability — which made it the fastest-selling OS at that time. Now, Microsoft claims that early sales of Windows 8 exceeded this figure at the monthly level.
This suggests that sales of both systems are moving in the same direction, said Rob Helm, managing vice president, Directions on Microsoft, Kirkland, WA (Kirkland, Wash.)
“The main thing here is how many devices were delivered with Windows 8 pre-installed, until the end of January there will be no clear picture [when Microsoft publishes a quarterly report],” Helm added.
Many of these licenses could be sold to distributors, but not yet purchased by end users, some observers have theorized. In addition, Microsoft license agreements allow customers to use Windows 7 instead of Windows 8, or buy systems with Windows 8 pre-installed, and then downgrade to Windows 7 or earlier systems. Despite this, Microsoft will still consider these licenses as Windows 8.
Others pay attention to significantly reduced Microsoft upgrade prices [to Windows 8], from $ 15 to $ 40.
“It would be hard not to sell 40 million licenses when their price is so steeply cut,” said Scott Frazier, IT administrator Con. J. Franke Electric in Stockton, California (Stockton, Calif.)
CEO Steve Ballmer’s Windows 8 sales ambitions are even higher, say participants in the annual meeting of shareholders this week, where he expects 400 million PCs with Windows 8 to be sold next year.
Microsoft did not respond to requests to provide data on the structure of Windows 8 sales.
Source: itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/vista-enterprise-desktop/microsoft-sells-40-million-windows-8-licenses-but-whom-to
Another 2 interesting articles in the topic at ComputerWorld:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/160811/
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