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Survey Finds Few Intend to Upgrade to Vista

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-it-aint-broke dept.

thefickler writes "A recent Harris Poll has found that while most online computers users are aware of Microsoft's Windows Vista, few are intending to switch over to the new operating system anytime soon. The Harris Poll of 2223 US online adults in early March found that 87% were aware of Vista. Unfortunately for Microsoft, only 12% of Vista-aware respondents were intending to upgrade to Vista in the next 12 months."

12 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. ORLY? by kv9 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Unfortunately for Microsoft, only 12% of Vista-aware respondents were intending to upgrade to Vista in the next 12 months.

    fortunately for Microsoft, the OEMs provide good business.

    --
    Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
    1. Re:ORLY? by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Informative
      So what's the lack of average Joe interest in Linux reflect?.

      Of the people I've talked computers with and who are aware of Linux, the common responses are:

      1. Application lock in.
      2. Format lock in.
      3. FUD (many varieties of misinformation).
      4. Unfamiliar UI.
      5. Not sufficiently better/different (can't be bothered).
      6. Lack of peer support (asking mates how to fix something).
      7. Lack of hardware vendor support. (Sorry, I don't care if there's smoke coming from your peripheral. We won't help because you're using an unsupported OS).

      My crowd's not particularly computer geeky (film/video and engineering, mostly), so it's not a huge sample size though.

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  2. Re:Early Adoptor == Burned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Downgrading" your license is possible, depending on the license.

  3. Upgrade is not MS game by iamacat · · Score: 3, Informative

    Most people buy a PC and run the same OS for its lifetime (which is around 5 years if you want current programs). "How many people are planning to buy a PC with Vista as opposed to any other computing device" survey would likely return 90%.

  4. Re:I just switched... BACK by geekoid · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can't open a command window and type 'ipconfig' ?

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Re:I just switched... BACK by SEMW · · Score: 4, Informative

    When using a laptop and traveling much, my ip-adress will often fluctuate. To show my IP-adress under XP, i doubleclick on the connection-icon in the systray and change to the second tab. Under Vista, i doubleclick the connection-icon and end up in the Connection-Center. From there, i have to choose the common Task to manage connections. There i have to rightclick on the connection and click on properties. THERE i have to click on the advanced-button. IIRC, one of the resons behind the Vista Sidebar was to make oft-accessed information just like this very easily accessible. Sure enough, a quick Find More Gadgets search reveals:

    My IP -- "a compact gadget to display your current IP address"

    Alternatively:

    Wireless Network Controller -- "a gadget to display your wireless network's current status and details. The gadget displays the SSID and Signal Strength; click on the SSID to open the Details flyout for all the network details such as Signal Quality, Security Status and IP Address."

    Another alternative; And another, etc..
    --
    What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
  6. Re:Early Adoptor == Burned by Grishnakh · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't understand: WGA is supposed to stop piracy, but it doesn't seem to have done much about the people on BitTorrent. So what is it for again? And why are you complaining about it? It seems like a non-issue to me.

  7. Actually.... by tacokill · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually - read your EULA.

    A Vista license allows you to "downgrade".

  8. No need to pirate by novocastrian · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most manufacturers offer their computers with Vista installed, but all it takes is a phone call or email to get them to put XP on it instead. I bought a Dell laptop a few weeks ago with XP & it was very easy to arrange.

  9. Re:I just switched... BACK by SEMW · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's just in the way, even on a widescreen monitor - who would willingly sacrifice that much real estate? It's not always on top, and doesn't take space away from applications -- by default, anyway, it just sits on the desktop, so the only thing it's nudging out of the way are desktop icons. Though there is an option to have it always on top, I can't see that many people would use it -- for exactly the reasons you say. So if you want to see your gadgets, you just winkey+M (minimize all) to see your desktop.

    Alternatively, if you want it to work like Dashboard (i.e. gadgets appear temporarily over the top of your current applications), the shortcut is winkey+space, which brings the sidebar and any desktop gadgets to the front (and in focus), from where you can use winkey+g to cycle through them.

    In fact, if you hide the sidebar altogether and just use desktop gadgets, and use winkey+space to bring them to the front when necessary, you can pretty much exactly emulate the functionality of Dashboard.

    BTW, For what it's worth, the first version of MacOS to have gadgets was released in April 2005. The initial release of Konfabulator was in February 2003 (November 2004 for the Windows version). Windows Sidebar, meanwhile, was demonstrated as a Microsoft Research project called Sideshow in the summer of 2000 and first turned up in a public Longhorn build in September 2002, 5 months before Konfabulator and over 2 1/2 years before MacOS 10.4.

    But then, BeOS had widgets way back in... er, whenever-it-was; certainly way before 2000.

    Come to think of it, BeOS also apparently had Spotlight/Vista-style instant search a good 10 years before Spotlight and Vista.

    So -- everything's ripping of BeOS?

    Meh.
    --
    What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
  10. Re:Early Adoptor == Burned by ddoctor · · Score: 3, Informative

    Um... hello?

    You can buy new computers without an operating system. I did it last week.

    If you don't want to buy a new computer with vista, don't buy a new computer with vista! Get one without vista! They exist!

  11. Re:Early Adoptor == Burned by whitmer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Microsoft depends on piracy to increase the number of computers their products are on. People using torrents are just helping them out.


    Parent post is not funny, it's insightful. Few weeks ago Microsoft exec Jeff Raikes was quoted "If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else". Information Week covered this. http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArt icle.jhtml?articleID=198000211