Do the Microsoft Windows 7 Sold Numbers Really Add Up?

  Microsoft, and a number of other people, and blogs have been touting the success of Windows 7. Part of the effect has been that many computers are selling as a result of Windows 7. However, several sites have reported that this may not be the case.

 

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    One survey came from Fiberlink Communications, a provider of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions, which allows organizations find out what software versions are on their endpoints. They recently did a survey of 500,000 computers owned by their customers and found that nearly 17 percent were running XP SP2. Fiberlink customers include stalwart companies such as Bayer, Volkswagen and Pepsi. Their research found that Windows 7 was running on barely .33 percent of computers in their survey pool, with 2.96 percent running Windows 2000, 15.14 percent running Windows Vista, and a whopping 81.57 percent running Windows XP.

 
Another poll, by PC Advisor, showed that only one in six users, or 15.4 per cent, said they would upgrade to Windows 7. Even fewer than that, about 5.7 per cent, said they would stick with their current version of Windows XP, SP2 or an earlier Service Pack. About 5.1 per cent said they would make the upgrade to Windows XP SP3. It seems that most respondents are satisfied with XP, and that may be the biggest challenge to Windows 7.

     The Service Pack for Windows XP

     Microsoft has announced the end of support for Windows XP Service Pack 2. So customers will want to upgrade to Service Pack 3. Microsoft released XP SP3 in May 2008. It was a large 316MB package that included the fixes from the previous two service packs plus additional ones.
Fiberlink indicated that the Microsoft announcement ending Service Pack 2 support would prompt companies to move to Windows7; but maybe not right away. Companies may tolerate a certain amount of risk and uncertainty for a couple of months before they make the migration move. Another factor to consider in making to move to Windows 7 is improving economic conditions plus cheaper hardware. However, right now, XP still dominates.

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