Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is proving far less p

Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is proving far less popular with new PC buyers than Windows XP did during XP's first year on the market, if statements by company chairman Bill Gates at this week's Consumer Electronics Show are any measure..
Gates, in Las Vegas Sunday, boasted that Microsoft has sold more than 100 million copies of Windows Vista since the OS launched last January.

While the number at first sounds impressive, it in fact indicates that the company's once dominant grip on the OS market is loosening. Based on Gates' statement, Windows Vista was aboard just 39% of the PC's that shipped in 2007.

And Vista, in terms of units shipped, only marginally outperformed first year sales of Windows XP according to Gates' numbers -- despite the fact that the PC market has almost doubled in size since XP launched in the post 9-11 gloom of late 2001.

Speaking five years ago at CES 2003, Gates said that Windows XP in its first full year on the market sold more than 89 million copies, according to a Microsoft record of the event.

Assuming Gates is using consistent measurements across time -- and any failure to do so would raise questions about Microsoft's reporting tactics -- first year Vista unit sales have exceeded first year XP unit sales by little more than 10%.

Windows XP launched in October 2001. According To Gartner Dataquest, worldwide PC shipments in 2002 totaled 132.4 million units. Windows Vista launched in January of 2007 -- a year in which PC shipments will have totaled 255.7 million units when the final tallies are in, according to Gartner.

Gates' statements at the 2003 and 2008 Consumer Electronics Shows thus reveal -- calculating roughly -- that Windows XP captured about 67% of the new PC market during its first year. Vista, by contrast, captured just 39%, or less than half, of new PC shipments in 2007.

The numbers are no doubt troubling for Microsoft, which spent millions of dollars developing and promoting Windows Vista.

Despite the efforts, many corporate and individual PC users have turned their backs on Vista -- citing concerns about its resource requirements and compatibility with older applications.

A survey published by InformationWeek last year revealed that 30% of corporate desktop managers have no plans to upgrade their company's PC's to Vista -- ever.

比尔·盖茨坦诚：大部分新PC不愿装Vista

       比尔·盖茨当地时间本周一在拉斯维加斯宣称，自从去年一月发布，Vista已经销售了超过一亿份拷贝。这个数字乍一听来很是振奋，但细细看来却发现微软操作系统的下滑之势：在2007年生产的PC中，只有39%选用了Windows Vista。

       五年前2003年的CES上，盖茨称Windows XP在第一年销售了超过0.89亿份拷贝，单从数字来看Vista表现似乎好于XP，但不要忘了，PC市场比起低迷的2001年（XP发布的时间）已经几乎翻了一番。

       Windows XP发布于2001年10月，Gartner Dataquest统计2002年世界的PC产出为1.324亿台，而在Windows Vista发布的2007年，这一数字为2.557亿。从盖茨分别在2003年和今年CES上公布的数据来看，Windows XP在发布第一年覆盖了67%的新PC，而Windows Vista只有39%，不足一半。

       对微软来说这些数字无疑是不痛快的，因为他花费了成百上千万来研发和升级Windows Vista。而且尽管在研发和推广上微软付出了许多努力，然而很多企业和个人还是不买账。InformationWeek 2007公布的数据显示，30%的管理者不打算将企业PC升级至Vista。