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Searches For Microsoft Vista Surge

Doug Caverly — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:57:06 +0000

Despite Microsoft’s best efforts, Vista isn’t yet breaking any sales records. According to some reports, the launch of the new operating system didn’t even draw a midnight crowd. People are curious about Windows Vista, though – data from Hitwise reveals that searches for the term are up 53%. I had a cynical reaction when I saw LeeAnn Prescott’s headline: "What kind of ‘start date’ does that 53% reflect?" My cynicism abated once I’d digested the second sentence of her piece. "[L]ast week the share of US Internet searches for ‘windows vista’ increased by 53% from the previous week (week ending 1/27/07 vs. week ending 1/20/07)," Prescott reported. "The volume of searches for the much-anticipated new operating system surpassed interest in Microsoft’s most popular hardware products, ‘xbox 360′ and ‘zune.’" From Microsoft’s point of view, those are certainly some encouraging tidbits. The company should also be pleased that the lion’s share – 58.63% – of the people searching for information about Vista are going to the official Microsoft website (instead of, say, some lukewarm reviews like these). But 6.84% of searchers are going to Wikipedia, according to Prescott, and Microsoft may not be thrilled about that. The "free-content encyclopedia project" offers a huge entry on Vista, and the article seems to be both informative and objective (it’s also locked against further editing). The entry doesn’t end on much of a high note, however – it concludes with 1,000 words of "criticism" instead. Still, Hitwise’s search data seems to indicate a strong public interest in Vista. It’ll be interesting to see how that interest translates into sales; if one article from Niall Kennedy is any indication, Microsoft may need to recruit an interpreter.

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Vista To Be More Generous Than Santa

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:28:06 +0000

Once Microsoft Vista gets into the marketplace, it will benefit the economy and drive job creation in the tech industry; no word on whether it will whiten teeth and freshen breath though.

A Microsoft-funded study on the economic impact of its Vista operating system hitting the market found that the IT industry will enjoy $70 billion in revenue during the first year that it ships. International Data Corporation (IDC) conducted the study on Microsoft’s behalf.

Microsoft opened Vista to its volume licensing partners on November 30th. Consumers will have to wait until January 30th, 2007, to obtain a copy of the newest OS from Microsoft.

More than five years of development, delays, and a substantial reorganization of Microsoft’s business units have been part of the process of preparing Vista for the marketplace. Its debut schedule announced for this year initially had both versions of Vista arriving before the holidays.

Pushing the consumer release back to 2007 hindered the immediate profitability OEM companies like Dell could enjoy in 2006. PC manufacturers could have used the Vista release to drive a large volume of sales, essential in the razor-thin margin world of personal computing.

But once Vista gets here, it should deliver belated profits to OEMs and plenty of others in the tech industry. That $70 billion will disperse through more than 200,000 companies that either build, sell, or distribute services or products linked to Vista.

IDC claimed that for each dollar in Vista-related revenue Microsoft tallies in 2007, an additional eighteen dollars will enter the general IT industry. This economic increase will evidently lead to greater investment by the IT industry to create the 100,000 jobs IDC predicted.

That investment should be in the neighborhood of $10 billion for 2007.

“Our research indicates that Windows Vista will infuse new energy into the market in its first 12 months of availability, driving important job and economic growth through new industry revenues,” said John F. Gantz, chief research officer and senior vice president of IDC, and author of the study.

“Relatively rapid and widespread adoption of Windows Vista means that its launch will not only affect Microsoft, but will also have a positive impact on local economies throughout the world.”

(I would like to note it’s already helping certain hacks by providing an endless stream of stories to cover. Thanks Microsoft!)

UPDATE! Memory could be one place where Vista really pushes costs, according to CRN.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Vista RC2 Released; Delays Still Possible

Doug Caverly — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 21:23:03 +0000

Windows Vista is, after many delays, taking a noticeable step forward.

Microsoft released the final test version Friday, although it hinted that further postponements could still take place. Release Candidate 2, at least, is now out of the way.

CNET’s Ina Fried covered the release, and noted that it “is being made available to its usual crop of technical testers and developers, as well as to some of the enthusiast consumers who are testing the earlier, RC1 version.”

Her article also included an official statement from the Redmond-based company.

“Microsoft has continued to receive excellent feedback that is helping to improve the overall quality and performance of the product,” it said.

“RC2 reflects that feedback and includes important improvements in performance, application compatibility and fit and finish work.”

It’s important for Microsoft to get everything “right” with Vista, of course, but another delay could damage the company’s reputation.

Retailers were extremely frustrated when the release date was pushed back until after the Christmas shopping season.

Another Microsoft quote in the CNET article left the issue up in the air.

“As we stated from the beginnning of Windows Vista development, the quality of the product will always be our first priority,” the company stated. “That said, Microsoft continues to target Windows Vista availability for volume license customers in November 2006 and general availability in January 2007, although the final delivery will be based on quality.”

It looks like the company is putting off a final decision on the release until the last minute.

As reviews and opinions of RC2 start to form, we’ll look to them for an indication of which way the issue might go.

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Vista 60 Percent Rewrite Is All Speculation

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 17:11:19 +0000

A report from an Australian publication citing a source at Acer Australia claimed up to 60 percent of the Windows Vista code needed to be rewritten, and Xbox engineers were being moved over to help with the programming.

That report created an absolute firestorm of controversy, and a long weekend of commentary on numerous blogs.

In the wake of Microsoft’s announcement that the consumer version of Vista was being pushed into 2007, followed by a substantial reorganization of Microsoft’s structure, many seemed ready to believe that the wheels had come off of Microsoft.

And when the story broke that Microsoft had entered serious rewrite mode, that fanned the flames even higher.

A Microsoft spokesperson responded about the issue via email today:

This is speculation with no demonstrable basis in fact. There aren’t any Xbox developers moving over to the Windows Vista team. Windows Vista is on track for business availability in November 2006 and consumer availability in January 2007. Windows Vista is feature complete which means the code “writing” process is in essence over. The next phase of development focuses on security, testing and fit/finish – not writing new code.

Publishing 2.0 blogger Scott Karp assessed the whole issue of news being made by the “edge,” ie, the blogosphere:

But as power shifts to edge, it’s a decidedly messy affair, because too many edge players are focused on their empowerment and not on the responsibility that comes with that power. “Non-credible” sources will be weeded out, but more will take their place.

Consumers will ultimately benefit from greater access to more varied and more accurate information, but they will be witness to the ugly process of the truth being made.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.