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Survey Finds Few Intend to Upgrade to Vista
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."
Alas, where I work we will be enthusiastically embracing Vista. My supervisor was very upbeat when she
told me I would be getting a new computer loaded with Vista and that I needed to familiarise myself with it
because everyone else would be getting Vista, too.
I'm an old school computer guy. I don't "upgrade" until I have to or there is sufficient benefit to be
gained. I learned this from a crafty old fellow who felt so, after being burned several times.
As to why, I see Vista as little more than a ploy to hold market share and gain some profits, as the existing
XP profit cycle has likely flattened. There will be a few bells and whistles, but the security aspect tells me they know
less about writing operating systems than their predecessors of 30 years ago. I think they still just don't get it. I also feel it's been rushed.
After all these years Windows is still a big mysterious black box, wherein things happen of which we know little and therefore
have little say in behaviour of or control over.
Besides, I've always been a fan of having the actual code at my finger tips.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Only 12% were aware of what DRM is.
People dont like to spend money on things that are not clearly better. Whats more, they dont want to replace computers they bought a few years ago, to buy something they already have only is more expensive!
News at 11.
What I wanted:
A lean and mean OS that ran in 64 bits, had good driver support, could make DVD movies, supported Directx 10, and NO DAMN PRODUCT ACTIVATION!
What it is:
A bloated and ponderous mess that still can't make DVD movies, tries to support more of Microsoft's proprietary formats, focuses more on eye candy than performance, and has even worse DRM and activation rules. Maybe when Halo 2 comes out we'll rush out and buy Vista just so we can play a game that's been on consoles for over a year....or just buy a console.
1) Do you plan to upgrade to Vista?
2) If so, how do you plan to upgrade?
1) Do you plan to buy a new computer?
2) If so, which manufacturer do you plan to buy from?
The phrasing of the article (focusing on "Vista-aware respondents") indicates that the numbers aren't a good indication of how many people will actually be upgrading. Tons of people who don't know about Vista will definitely be upgrading, whether they plan to or not.
I just heard! There's a new survey out, that says that while 90% of people know it's possible, only 1% of all car owners are planning on replacing their existing engine in their existing car! New car engines are a failure, and nobody's buying them... right?
I don't respond to AC's.
Then again there are people like me. I just bought a new pc in the last week that came with vista premium preinstalled. I didn't even boot into vista once before wiping the drive and installing xp. I'll hold onto the vista install disk, so I can use it later if vista eventually has some feature I need that xp doesn't offer. Not that I'm going to hold my breath on that anytime soon.
You know microsoft did a great job with R&D when their newest OS is preinstalled on a machine, and the first thing a user does is downgrade to an older version.
I had a short conversation today with a customer service rep from Dell regarding buying a new laptop.
::Deleted my company name for obvious reasons::
System Initial Question/Comment: Is it possible to get a laptop with XP or no OS?
System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
System Connected with ATG Anibal
ATG Anibal Thank you for contacting the Dell Employee and Student Purchase Program. My name is Anibal, I will be your personal assistant today. I will be glad to assist you with your questions.
ATG Anibal To be sure that I can further assist you, may I have the name of the company or institution that you work for?
Me
ATG Anibal Yes , those are latitude notebooks. Those are the ones that will give you xp as an option
Me Alright... can I get no OS?
ATG Anibal No, is not an option.
Me So, just so I understand what you're saying. If I want to buy a Dell Laptop I also must buy Windows with it?
ATG Anibal That is correct
Me And if I want to buy an Inspiron laptop, I also must buy Vista?
ATG Anibal That is correct, unless you go with latitude notebooks
Me Thank you for your help.
"Is not an option" was my favorite part. YA RLY
"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry.'" -Gary Larson
Oracle Collaboration Server for calendering, plus Cyrus IMAP for mail. Provides a full service to Outlook users, other IMAP client users (with either a web client or a native OSX/Linux/Solaris/Windows client for the calendaring). Pretty cheap, certainly as compared to Exchange. We like it.
Is that a fact or did you imagine it just now? So what you're saying is that you have the pulse of several hundreds of millions of Windows users. Correct? And they don't want Vista. Correct? Can you show us some data to back this up?
How do you figure? I'm a little fuzzy on how this happens... How is this the "likely result"?
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
I've never been a big fan of upgrading Windows either. I've still got 2 computers running 2000 because it's always worked best for me. My University gave Vista away for free to all engineering majors, so I thought I'd give it a try on my best comp. Long story short, Vista works for everyday tasks and video and what not, but I frequently have to restart because of some network problem that keeps happening, my graphics shear and distort randomly, and the driver problems prevent me from playing games and doing certain other extra tasks. I'll live with Vista until the end of the semester because I don't want to bother going through the trouble until I'm done, but then I'll be making the switch to an older version. There's really no need for me to be using Vista, as so many other people seem to say.
...but wait. Vista does make me more productive! Since I can't play any games or visit certain websites, I get bored and focus on my studies more. Wow, thanks Vista!
Because nearly everything I read at the time told me that it would be great for gaming in general. At that point I knew a lot about Windows 98; I knew how to install it and then strip everything out that I didn't need. I was able to bend it to my will, and my upgrade to XP was sort of a culture shock because I didn't know where everything was or how to tweak it just hte way I wanted. I remembered that I wavered between the two for about a month and then just dove all the way in and made myself use the (then) new OS from Redmond. It turned out to be quite an improvement over the Win98SE2 once I figured my way around.
Nowadays I'm still a heavy gamer, and while the thought of having all of my games organized sounds nice, all of the benchmarks I've seen show an actual reduction in framerates and an increase in overhead from Vista. This is also the reason I won't be using a Linux distro as my main OS--I can get some but not all of my games to run on it. Plus I'm now finally running SLI with two 7900GT's, and I can't and don't want to buy a DX10 card at the moment.
I'm moderately skilled and the problems others have had with Vista's install and driver support don't really faze me all that much; but the bottom line for me is that until my favorite games perform better on Vista, I'll be sticking with XP.
There is simply too much glass..
Give Beryl a try.
except in this case, the Monopoly is generated by the fact that just about anyone that buys a new computer will have that product installed on it by default. The fact that its incredibly difficult to get a new big name pc without Windows pre-installed is in itself wrong.
I hope that this current situation actually does translate to lower new pc sales for the big name manufacturers, giving them pause to think about shipping with GNU/Linux or no OS at all, and do so at an equitable cost structure. Equitable cost structure is one where computers are cheaper without software pre-installed. Yes, I know that this is problematic because of the licensing deals the manufacturers are currently stuck with in order to even supply Windows at a good price.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Not knowing much about your specific situation, all I can say is that it's worth taking a look at Zimbra. It's beginning to get some enterprise adoption, and they have several million mailboxes for an unknown number of customers.
No, Windows has become a product that 99% of its users have no expectation of improvement. There are plenty of visionary computer users who are frustrated with the sluggishness of OS (and office) innovation, but are powerless in the face of the MS monopoly.
The lack of interest in Vista reflects stagnation, not satisfaction.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
I bought a Macintosh.
like ever even...
i tch_to_linux_after_microsoft_piracy_case
"Russian schools in the area are so scared about being shipped
off to a Siberian Gulag, that they are buying Linux gear instead."
http://www.secguru.com/link/russian_schools_to_sw
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
There is a ray of hope though. In conversations past with other computer enthusiasts we talked much about how fast computers really needed to get before people just wouldn't excited anymore about new technology. I think we are rapidly approaching that point on several major components in the system with a few more just a few more years away. Sound cards are becoming harder and hard to justify. Basic 3d Video cards cost absolutely nothing now. High end graphics cards are supper computers in their own right and are dropping fast in price. Physic cards were exciting for all of six months and now they are being run on other hardware much more cheaply. Flash memory is finally getting cheap and fast, harddrives are moving right up to rediculous for the amount they can hold and CPU prices are tanking even as they get faster and more cores. RAM is being stubborn, but new types should up the competition and put a dent in the price.
I give it only a few more years where the entire computer on a single card becomes not only possible, but the norm and "Opperating systems" are nothing more than various User Interfaces layered over which every kind software that works the best.
Well, I won't pay Microsoft any money until they stop treating their customers like criminals
I am a Windows user however for this reason, Microsoft treating it's customers like criminals, I am switching. For my desktop I got a PC with Linux preinstalled and for a laptop I plan on getting a Macbook Pro. Not unless and until MS gets rid of Activation and WGA/WPA will I willingly buy either a PC with Windows installed or Windows on disk in a box. I see no reason I should even need Windows again, other than what I am already using, but if there's any software I need but for which there are not versions for Linux and/or Macs, I looked and found none that does not run on either, then I will use Crossover/WINE to run them in.
FalconShould there be a Law?