Microsoft is hoping to sell 300 million copies of its flagship operating system in 2010, said company COO Kevin Turner yesterday.
This news comes just days after Microsoft’s announcement that Windows 7 has shipped 90 million copies to date, proclaiming it their fastest-selling OS ever. Given Vista’s poor reputation and XP’s rapid aging and susceptibility to malware, this pent-up demand for the new operating system seems natural.
Windows 7 became available to the public in late October, and has reached 90 million copies in just four months. Given that rate of sale, Microsoft is actually expecting Windows 7 sales to be better this year than they were at launch. Turner cited Windows 7′s momentum, and the slow but steady growth of demand in the business sector as the reasons for the optimistic forecast. We reported recently about small businesses’ growing interest in upgrading to Windows 7.
I can also tell you anecdotally that there is a foundation for this optimism – the college where I work my day job is beginning to roll Windows 7 out on some new computers, if the computer’s user is willing and if their required software presents no compatibility issues. So far, we’ve gotten very few calls from those users related specifically to Windows 7, and many other users are interested in upgrading the PCs they already have.
It seems that after nine years of XP, even users in environments traditionally resistant to change are getting excited for the new Windows version.
Is the place where you work gearing up for any Windows 7 deployments? Has your IT guy’s mind been changed by all the positive reviews and press? Let us know in the comments!
Source: Windows IT Pro
