The Result
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The Result
Windows 7 sold-doubtlessly helped by offers such as the Windows 7 Family
Pack, which dangled the prospect of three upgrade licenses to Windows 7 Home
Premium for $149.99. (That offer would be discontinued in December 2009, only
to be revived again in September.)
In any case, while consumers snatched up the operating system in substantial
quantities, businesses at first seemed more reluctant to upgrade. Microsoft
tried to tempt businesses with other deals, including the Windows 7 Enterprise
Trial program, but corporations seemed reluctant to open their wallets in the
wake of the global recession.
"There will be an enterprise refresh cycle," Microsoft Chief
Financial Officer Peter Klein told a Morgan Stanley investor conference in
March. "It's not precisely certain when that will happen or how fast that
will happen, but we expect it to happen this calendar year and go into next
calendar year, and that will be a really good catalyst for growth in our PC
business."
Despite businesses' fitful spending, the pent-up need for users to refresh
aging PCs-and for many, eliminate Vista or XPs from
their PCs-led to strong sales for Windows 7. According
to analytics firm Net Applications, Windows 7 currently occupies some 17.10
percent of the operating-system market, behind Windows XP at 60.03 percent and ahead
of Windows Vista at 13.35 percent.
Microsoft claims more than 240 million Windows 7 licenses have sold to date.
Those sales seem good enough to solidify the company's grip on the
operating-system market, even as it faces a substantial challenge-from the
underdog position-of penetrating the smartphone operating-system market with
its new Windows Phone 7.
Rumors are already swirling about possible
features in Windows 8.
