Memory upgrade

[tw]

Originally Posted by aimeecc

I read a few months ago a couple big computer manufacturers (Dell was one) were no longer forcing Vista on new computers - customers could go XP or Vista for the same price.

That option for getting a computer with an older OS has always been an option. I remember one customer ordering three computers that were Windows 98 compatible. But computers were ordered from the manufacturer with Windows 3.1 - the OS obsoleted by Windows 95.

Every Windows OS has arrived with the same predictions of doom as now cast upon Windows Vista.

Windows 3.1 got the name Windoze because hardware executed so slowly. Then new hardware arrived that eliminated the reason for that slowness - the video bus and PCI bus. Accusations of bloated Windows disappeared as hardware changed to make graphics processing faster.

I see no evidence (only rumor) that Vista sales are being undermined by XP. If so, then why are 1 Gb memory sales not being bolstered by Vista?

[aimeecc]

Originally Posted by tw

That option for getting a computer with an older OS has always been an option.

False. You really need to start backing your posts with valid sources and facts.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04...fers_xp_again/

Dell is to once again offer Windows XP on new systems, responding to online customer complaints. The decision reverses a Vista-only policy the PC seller has moved to since the release of Microsoft's latest OS. The move is a reaction to online complaints at Dell's recently-launched Ideastorm website.

Originally Posted by tw

Every Windows OS has arrived with the same predictions of doom as now cast upon Windows Vista.

True, but Vista's been on the market for almost a year, and has made little progress in the market compared to the market share captured by XP in its first year of release. Its not that its really that bad of a product, there just isn't a perceived need and few people want the hassle of the driver issues, security issues, or the hassle of learning a new OS, and it has few upgrades for typical users (it has lots of new things, just most people don't need or want them).

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07...quarter_vista/

Not that you'd know it from Microsoft's results, or projected revenue, but the giant launched a brand-spanking new version of Windows this year.

Not only did Windows Vista - billed by Microsoft as its biggest operating system for 10 years - fail to distinguish Microsoft's latest fiscal year from previous, non-Windows-Vista years, but Microsoft also missed its own expectations by several million dollars.

With the "wow" clearly failing to materialize in fiscal 2007, Microsoft was left to pronounce itself "broadly happy" - not blown away - with Windows Vista sales.

http://blogs.eweek.com/brooks/conten..._showdown.html

Vista vs. XP Showdown
Microsoft's release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is nigh, which means that it's nearly time for organizations sold on a "better SP1 than sorry" approach toward deploying Microsoft's latest client operating system to start polishing off their imaging tools.

However, based on the conversations I have had with readers and with eWEEK's Corporate Partners, it seems that many IT managers are viewing Vista's SP1 not as a green light for deployments, but as something like a pop-up reminder to schedule some time to think about maybe deploying the new OS.

While Windows XP is getting rather long in the tooth, age alone is not reason enough to undertake an upgrade. As unsettling a truth as it may be for Microsoft, the bottom line on XP versus Vista is that there's not a whole lot that you can do with the latter OS that you can't do with the former.

http://www.pcmech.com/article/vista-...windows-going/

it comes down to one thing:

Windows XP Simply WORKS! Period. Case closed.

I can’t say the same for Windows Vista - yet. And that is my qualifier here. Windows Vista IS better than XP was when it was first released to the public. With XP, it really wasn’t until after SP2 that it became as solid as it is. So, good effort, Microsoft. But, the thing is that as it sits now, Windows XP SP2 is a more stable and faster operating system than Windows Vista.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/006130.html

On January 30th, Microsoft released Windows Vista to consumers, who have been adopting it in ever-growing numbers. But those numbers have been creeping along rather than rocketing: As of now, Vista (the red line in the chart) is used by 14 percent of visitors, while 71 percent use Windows XP (the green line):

How much of an accomplishment is it for a new version of Windows to get to 14 percent usage in 11 months? The logical benchmark is to compare it to the first eleven months of Windows XP, back in 2001 and 2002. In that period, that operating system went from nothing to 36 percent usage on PCWorld.com--more than 250 percent of the usage that Vista has mustered so far. In fact, it only took eleven months for XP (the green line in this cart) to surpass Windows 98 (the red one) and become the most-used version of Windows among users of the site:

(So how come Vista's being adopted so much more slowly than XP was back in the day? It might relate in part to deficiencies in Vista. But I also bet it stems in part from the fact that XP with SP2 is...well, far from perfect, but all that many people need. Back in 2001, the Windows world was more fractured, and XP was a much more modern OS than either the aging Windows 98 or the botched job that was Windows ME.)

How all this relates to memory being cheap is beyond me.

[tw]

Originally Posted by aimeecc

True, but Vista's been on the market for almost a year, and has made little progress in the market compared to the market share captured by XP in its first year of release. Its not that its really that bad of a product, there just isn't a perceived need and few people want the hassle of the driver issues, security issues, or the hassle of learning a new OS, and it has few upgrades for typical users (it has lots of new things, just most people don't need or want them).

According to reports based on Microsoft's significant increase in sales, both Vista and Office are experiencing robust sales.

Microsoft posted an impressive quarter on Thursday, with Vista and Office sales setting the pace. The software giant also issued a strong outlook for the current quarter and all of 2008 -- something many of its fellow tech companies have been unable to do.

Microsoft's earnings rose about 79 percent for the quarter that ended in December -- its fiscal second quarter -- and it boosted its outlook on strong demand from around the world for its operating system, productivity software and related products.

Returning to the original question. Why are these sales that were predicted to drive memory sales not creating the memory demand? Does Vista not require the memory increases (1 Gb memory modules) that the memory market was predicting? Vista sales are robust. Why is the demand for memory lagging?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Vista sales are not robust... duh.