Microsoft CEO Ballmer says Windows 7 sales are double its predecessors'
By Laura June 
posted November 19th 2009 7:39PM
posted November 19th 2009 7:39PM
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand for the company's annual shareholder's meeting in Washington, and news of Windows 7 sales came up right away. While delivering the opening remarks, Ballmer said that Microsoft has sold twice as many copies of Win 7 as any previous Microsoft OS in a comparable time frame. That's including both OEM sales and boxed retail copies, of course, and though no specific numbers were mentioned, the good news isn't completely unexpected as pre-orders were through the roof. High five, Microsoft.
So what? Save ur cheers when reach the level of WinXP
@Jerry No it's not just you. g j p q and @ are all cut off.
Of course it's double the sales of the previous iteration of Windows. Vista was, and always will be, complete garbage. Even Microsoft admitted it was a "mistake" hence the prolonged availability of Windows XP and the ever so extending "End Of Life" date that XP had.
I personally like Win7 but this isn't some landmark level of contrast to brag about Ballmer. I'll be glad when Microsoft just comes out and says "Hey... if at first you don't succeed..." and that's that.
I find it odd that people downranked that when everyone hated vista.
@Conceyted +1 for Calibri
The new Engadget is great, but the font is giving me a headache.
@Kevin949 I liked Vista. It's improved security model and 64bit version that actually had driver support was a breath of fresh air for me. Even the UI felt a lot more responsive and up-to-date with XP's cartoonish styles. It didn't work for everyone, but please realize, that there were a lot of people who either liked or were indifferent to Vista. It's just the complainers got the spot-light in the media.
That being said, I got Seven a week after release, and love it. I'm almost glad so many people complained about Vista - as MS has really improved on quite a few aspects of their Operating System.
This is hardly surprising when Windows 7 pre-orders were selling for less than a quarter of the price of Vista Home Preimum. If they sold it for $0.01 it would probably have sold about a hundred times what any previous operating system sold but that wouldn't have made it a success.
Higher sales volume at a lower price point is nothing surprising and the important information is that revenue for the Windows 7 launch is down 18% on the Vista launch. Hardware sales also increased by a lesser margin than the Vista launch – they were up 170% week-on-week and 68% year-on-year for Vista but only 95% week-on-week and 49% year-on-year for Windows 7. It seems nobody really wants Windows 7 and the only way Microsoft are getting people to take it is by practically giving it away.
http://i45.tinypic.com/2uibqk5.jpg
@Richard The funny thing is I know a lot of people who wouldn't have minded paying a higher price point for Windows 7. It really is a great upgrade if even just for the small things. I feel like my productivity has doubled since I've started using Windows 7. It really is great for a high resolution monitor in which I have a lot of programs open. It's a much better multitasking interface than the MAC OS.
@Logical_Luke
am i the only one getting my eyes hurt by the Titles font-face of each post? :S
Come on Engadget use some font with smooth edges or something. A $200 font for the title wouldn't damage your revenue cycle :|
Comic Sans would be better than this font @_@
@lolwhat Don't even joke. There is no font worse than Comic Sans. Ever.
Well Done
Windows 7 runs so smooth!
My love for Windows 7 is only equaled by my hate for the changes to the commenting system and Steve Ballmers face.
Fix this crap Engadget, and again, just because he's the CEO doesn't mean I should ever have to look at him.
@Ducman69 I will support your statement, as long as we can also apply it to Steve "I OWN YOU" Jobs. A middle aged man in a turtleneck every day just gives me the creeps. If I met him on the street, I'd think he drove a white panel van.
Yeah...I initially thought nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngreen on white....sigh....but...other than the battery life, (I listen to 2-4 hours of podcasts a day)...and some fritzy stuff with the A-data 4G micro SDHC...a Palm...ANY Palm can run circles around a WM machine when it comes time to do what a pda is REALLY meant to do...Search ...er...Find TEXT. As per Peter Rojas's comments...
Dear Palm,
Man, what a crazy year, right? We know things haven't really been going your way lately, but we want you to know that we haven't given up on you, even though it might seem like the only smartphone anyone wants to talk about these days is the iPhone. It can be hard to remember right now, but you used to be a company we looked to for innovation. You guys got handhelds right when everyone else, including Apple, was struggling to figure it out. And it was the little things that made those early Palm Pilots great -- you could tell that someone had gone to a lot of trouble to think about what made for a great mobile experience, like how many (or rather, few) steps it took to perform common tasks.
The problem is that lately we haven't seen anything too impressive out of you guys....you don't think the Centro is impressive??? Sure, over the past few years the Treo has emerged as a cornerstone of the smartphone market, but you've let the platform stagnate while nearly everyone (especially Microsoft and HTC, Symbian and Nokia, RIM, and Apple) has steadily improved their offerings. So we've thrown together a few ideas for how Palm can get back in the game and (hopefully) come out with a phone that people can care about. (And we're not talking about the Centro / Gandolf.) Read on.
So yeah, it was probably a smart move to recognize that you needed to offer a Windows Mobile version of the Treo to appeal to enterprise users, but there are literally millions and millions of consumers who want a high-end, powerful mobile computer that isn't built around Exchange server support. What they're looking for is a great user experience. Apple has done a good job tapping into that market, but there's still a huge opportunity out there for Palm to offer a smartphone that's just as engaging as the iPhone, but that's also open, rather than closed, and more geared towards productivity.
Frankly, you've taken a turn from being the respected underdog and innovator to repeat offender in stale gear. Every press release you issue or "leaked" photo we see these days is another dent in your already banged up armor, and really, we're not sure how much more we can take -- our loyalty has practically become an embarrassment among peers. The New York Times totally nailed it when they said "Palm is about to release a new model in its Treo line and photos leak out to silence." That said, we humbly submit a few (mainly practical) suggestions for how you can turn things around, organized by hardware, software, and other.
Hardware
Get thin - Three words: FIGURE IT OUT. If HTC, Apple, and Motorola can offer thin (and we mean friggin' thin) smartphones, you can too. We know you think the Treo is perfectly proportioned, but it's not. It's chubby. No excuses any more, ok? It doesn't have to be as thin as the iPhone, but you've gotta trim some of the fat.
Bigger, higher resolution displays - Make the screen bigger and up the resolution and you'll go a long way towards winning us back. There's no reason the 750 shouldn't have 320 x 320 (or higher) -- Windows Mobile 6 supports that, or didn't you hear? But for new devices you might want to have the keyboard slide out, like with the HTC Hermes or the Samsung i730. It's a really smart move. The long and short of it is this: if you can find some way to marry the expanse of something like the iPhone's or G900's massive, high res screens and still retain the spirit of the Palm keyboard, people will be very interested.
Speaking of the keyboard, don't mess too much with it - Apple may or not add a physical keyboard to the iPhone (our money says it won't happen), but the one the Treo has now is pretty good and it's pretty much the one thing that's keeping a lot of Treo owners from jumping ship. And from what we hear, the Centro is going to have a keyboard that's "impossible to type on" -- not a good sign. Then again, HTC's signature sliding QWERTY form factor is really compelling too, so you might do good to whip up a really messaging-heavy device built around that kind of design. But again, don't be tempted to mess too much with what's good about the Treo's input.
Make it look nice - We know Jeff Hawkins thinks Palm (well, technically Handspring) nailed it with the Treo form-factor, but it's been almost FOUR YEARS since you introduced the Treo 600, and apart from a few long-overdue improvements here and there (losing the antenna stub, making the casing a few millimeters thinner, tweaking the keyboard), it's essentially the same phone. The Treo used to win design awards, but now it looks really clunky compared to devices like the Dash, the Curve, and the iPhone.
YOU NEED TO MAKE THE PHONE LOOK NICE. Phones are a big part of people's lives now, and if they're going to spend $400 and up for one, they're going to want something they won't be embarrassed to use in public. C'mon, even RIM has figured this one out. How have you failed to see that innovative and engaging design is necessary to win (or even compete) in the mass-market consumer cellphone world? We know that's where the Centro is aimed, and we're not so sure it's going to hit the mark.
Add WiFi - Is it really almost 2008 and the Treo STILL doesn't have WiFi? No excuses any more, sort it out.
Think about adding some storage - There was a time when just having expandable storage via a memory card slot was enough, but that time's passed. People won't mind sideloading via USB if you make the Treo appear as a mass storage device, meaning you can add embedded flash memory (a few gigs would be nice). 8GB in a cellphone is now the new bar. Meet or exceed it, but don't ignore the fact.
Finally, put the kibosh on the Centro / Gandolf / Treo 800p - You're going down the wrong path with these devices...and everyone knows it but you. We don't want to harp on this, but if what we've heard in the initial reports, and seen in blurry photos is what you're really going to offer, and believe it or not, you'll actually be able to expect a reception from your community roughly twice as lukewarm as it was for the Foleo. Palm, put your ear to the ground and listen. We hate to be jerks, but now appears to be the time for some tough love. But jerks you are on this one Peter...I refer you to
Software suggestions
Completely overhaul the OS - [COLOR="Red"][B]but don't loose the 15 second search time for over 1800 phone notes...or 1000 Memos...remember...it takes 12 minutes to search for a word on a WM5 or 6 platform...after all...what is a PDA FOR?...besides phone calls...storage...and more importantly SWIFT RETRIEVAL of stored text...something at which Windows Mobile sadly fails...I don't blame HTC, I truely believe that if a 8125 was loaded with the Palm OS, the search time would be under 10 seconds...but right now 12, or 10 of 5 or 1.1 minutes for a text search is completely unacceptable...and THAT is why I went back to the Palm OS!!![/B][/COLOR]
...so...yeah...Wifi would be nice but we ALL KNOW how fast that kills the batteries on WM 5-6 machines...read HTC...dunno about any other WM machine like RIM's latest Blackberry offerings, but I 'd be willing to bet this is a physical/physics/chemistry situation....todays technology sucks at making small, long lasting batteries....but...I understand innovations are on the way...so that may not be the issue any more.
The ISSUE...is you want a playpretty?...get an Iphone...you want to LOOK productive...get a Windows Mobile phone or pocket pc....
You want productivity?.....Get a Palm...
finis
Chas
@Charles Honce
Dude... wtf?
@HaZaRd I don't know. I think he said "get a Palm"
I wonder if they are counting all the copies they gave away for free.
@math0ne
Windows 7 is a fine operating system, but it's only about 5% better than Windows XP. That's not enough to induce XP'ers to upgrade until they absolutely have to and they'll do that when they buy new computers.
@math0ne
are you guys serious?
your gonna bitch about the font?
its fine! FFS!
i'm diggin the new engadget
i see the observer...
Remember when they said Vista sales were hundreds of percent higher than XP. We know how that turned out. I'm sure loading 7 starter on millions of netbooks has nothing to do with the numbers. When Windows 98 came out every computer store in the country opened at midnight with lines out the door. Did anyone wait in line for Windows 7?
Millions of people purchased the discounted 7 upgrade just to get Vista off their computers. I wouldn't really call that a success.
I just bought a new workstation for my office. Core i7, 12GB of RAM, GF 260 with Windows 7 preloaded. I formatted the drive and ran a clean install. Just sitting there Windows 7 uses 1.8 GB of RAM. Well that is better than Vista but still a hog. I loaded up some 3D apps to check out the Open GL performance in Windows 7 and it is still broken. So now I have to make a choice, either work with downgraded Open GL 1.0 or revert to XP64.
That is the problem with Windows 7. It is better than Vista but still based on a broken piece of software. Outside of support for DirectX 10 and beyond, Vista and 7 offer nothing of value over XP. Performance in every application I use is slower and it isn't worth it for me to sacrifice performance for some shiny new gimmicks.
Vista's radical change to the start menu pissed me off beyond belief and now 7's radical change to the taskbar is pissing me off. If I want an instance of a new window for the same app launched from the taskbar I shouldn't have to right click on the icon and select it from a menu because of the new grouping behavior. The OS should take a backseat to the applications you run, not stand in the way of productivity.
I'd switch to a Mac if it didn't have an even more infuriating OS and it ran the applications I need for my job.
XP64 was the perfect OS. It balanced performance and stability while staying out of the way speeding up productivity and workflow. The menu system made sense and it maintained what worked from previous OS releases. Microsoft should have put an Aero interface on XP64 and released it as their next major OS rather than limiting its release and relegating it to computer hobbyists.
"When Windows 98 came out every computer store in the country opened at midnight with lines out the door. Did anyone wait in line for Windows 7?"
Welcome to pre-order. Ask Amazon how many copies they delivered on day 1.
XP is an antiquated piece of shit. I hate it. It's full of holes, and is not nearly so stable as 7.
I understand your issue with the lack of quality OpenGL support in Vista and up, but it's not 'broken' - Windows has moved on. Frankly if your vendor hasn't added DirectX support to your 3D applications yet, you should be complaining to them.
I bought two copies of Professional, and I just got a netbook with Starter on it.
My girlfriend bought a 3 pack of Home Premium.
We are both quite pleased.
As much as I like Linux I must say I installed Windows 7 last weekend on a new i7 machine and I was very impressed.
They sold so many because anyone who had vista wanted to kill their computer.
@Metalhead I used vista for quite some time and I didn't have a problem with it. I used the 32 bit version. I do know of all the complainers out there, my friend was one of them and I harped on him all the time. The biggest problem was that vista was a such a far fetch from XP (which was already well established, if not becoming dated) and the XP mode in vista left much to be desired. Many companies couldn't move to vista for numerous reasons. Win7 is leaps and bounds better than vista and one doesn't realize just how bad vista actually was until Win7 came out. Really, Vista was the ME of the new OS releases. I didn't mind vista when I had, but I like Win7 that much more and in having to do many tests with programs at work to make sure they run on Win7 for when we switch over, there are FAR fewer problems with compatibility in Win7 than with Vista.
aside from the new awesome font, I love the fact that the site only take up half and the comments are condense into 1/4 of the estate of my wide screen monitor.
Windows 7 gots what PCs crave.. its got electrolytes!
MICROSOFT ROX MY SOX!!! Congrats Microsoft.
@pee tee
Hey.. u always provide a link in every comment.
You are suffering from linkphobia.. lol
This is just wrong!
Opera: Article font is not serifed crap but a lot of things are broken.
FF: Everything works, but article font is serifed crap
+ where is the "Expand all" button?
Er... Bob certainly wasn't my idea... *runs*
Hope they didn't include the free Vista to 7 update for people that bought a new PC recently...
what isn't to love about windows 7?
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/34992_a-first-look-at-windows-7.html
not tha it wasn't expected, but nice to hear!!!
I'm using Win7 64bit since day1, using lots o programs and games and it works like a charm!!!
Yay!
No surprise at all. Windows 7 from beta to release has been a solid system. Everyone seems to be upgrading.
This new layout makes me want to cry. It is fugly slow.
Developers! Developers! Developers!
3/4 machines in my house upgraded to Windows 7, didnt cost me a penny. Being a MSDN member is great :-)
That last system only has 512mb of RAM though so I'm not sure if it would be wise to upgrade. If i can find a cheap stick of DDR1 though, all the machines in my house will be Windows 7 based.
p.s Even the old faithfull Athlon XP runs Win7 nicely!
Great! Now let's focus the attention the windows mobile, improvement of the OS and its layout and increasing the amout of apps in the app store
I effing love Windows 7. My XP used to just hang and I'd have to hard reset. 7 is stable as a mountain. I was fortunate enough to get it 30% off so save $100 AUD on the ultimate.