Bill Veghte, Microsoft's top Windows Business Exec, has said that he doesn't expect the Windows 7 release to significantly boost PC sales, despite all of the excitement surrounding Microsoft's next OS.
"History would tell us that generally as you ship a Windows release into the market... the bump is very modest," said Veghte. "You will see a little bit [of a bump], but it [will be] modest."
Microsoft announced last week that Windows 7 would ship on October 22nd and, according to a leaked Best Buy memo, the software giant will begin offering free or cheap Windows 7 upgrades to customers buying a new PC after 26th June via the Windows 7 Upgrade Program.
That doesn't quite line up with Apple's plans to offer a cheap upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard – if you've already got Leopard installed, it'll cost just $29 to upgrade to the new version of the OS, due out in September.
We're still hoping that Microsoft will see the light and offer a similar upgrade program for those who purchased Windows Vista, but we're yet to hear anything of any substance from the company. After all, when you've got big retailers such as Best Buy saying that Windows 7 is more than just "Vista that works", it's quite clear that Vista wasn't received well by more than just press and customers - Microsoft's partners didn't really like it either.
Discuss in the forums.
"History would tell us that generally as you ship a Windows release into the market... the bump is very modest," said Veghte. "You will see a little bit [of a bump], but it [will be] modest."
Microsoft announced last week that Windows 7 would ship on October 22nd and, according to a leaked Best Buy memo, the software giant will begin offering free or cheap Windows 7 upgrades to customers buying a new PC after 26th June via the Windows 7 Upgrade Program.
That doesn't quite line up with Apple's plans to offer a cheap upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard – if you've already got Leopard installed, it'll cost just $29 to upgrade to the new version of the OS, due out in September.
We're still hoping that Microsoft will see the light and offer a similar upgrade program for those who purchased Windows Vista, but we're yet to hear anything of any substance from the company. After all, when you've got big retailers such as Best Buy saying that Windows 7 is more than just "Vista that works", it's quite clear that Vista wasn't received well by more than just press and customers - Microsoft's partners didn't really like it either.
Discuss in the forums.
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