Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

XP's End Will Do More For PC Sales Than Win 8, Says HP Exec

Posted by timothy on from the grass-was-always-greener dept.

dcblogs writes "Hewlett-Packard executives say that the coming demise of Windows XP next year may do what Windows 8 could not, and that's boost PC sales significantly. 'We think this will bring a big opportunity for HP,' said Enrique Lore, senior vice president and general manager of HP's business PCs. Lore was asked, in a later interview, whether the demand for XP replacement systems could help sales more than Windows 8. His response was unequivocal: 'Yes, significantly more, especially on the commercial side,' he said. Lore said 40% to 50% of business users remain on XP systems."

9 of 438 comments (clear)

  1. It'll do a lot for pre-installed Linux too... by CaptainOfSpray · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ..with XP look-alikes. Yeah, OK, I can dream, can't I?

    --
    "Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
    1. Re:It'll do a lot for pre-installed Linux too... by fredprado · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Considering MS Office versions have been increasingly different from each other, I don't think it is easier anymore, from a training perspective to keep using MS programs. I mean, if you will have to train all your employees to use Office 2010, 2012, Blue or whatever, why not train them to use Libreoffice and get done with it?

    2. Re:It'll do a lot for pre-installed Linux too... by hlavac · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I doubt these old unmaintained Windows XP business apps will work better on Windows 8 than on Linux :)

    3. Re:It'll do a lot for pre-installed Linux too... by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Parent post fails badly. In point of fact, the only intrinsic advantage between Photoshop and the current version of The Gimp is that Photoshop offers arguably better support for CMYK than The Gimp does.

      What Photoshop has going for it is a micro ecosystem of student discounts, training sessions for college teachers, exclusive license deals with colleges that limit art students' exposure to any other image manipulation software, and workshop junkets to exotic locales that can be tax write-offs for Arts Departments. None of this "professional" support adds any value to the artwork created by Photoshop. It does create a circus of fanbois, many of whom have a vested interest in Photoshop's continued dominance.

      Meanwhile, The Gimp is adding new features and improvements constantly, at no cost to its users other than the bother of downloading and installing the upgrades. Photoshop takes a few years between version releases, primarily because as a for-profit business, it needs to milk every dime it can get from the current version before replacing it with something better. Also, see other comment, below.

      --
      Will
  2. I migrated my parents off XP... by voss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    to Windows 7 this year.

    Windows 8 was just too much of a learning curve for them even if it were the greatest thing since sliced bread.
    Windows 7 is similar enough to XP that I can sit them down at it and not have to reteach them everything. I can even make it look
    like XP If I really need to. I cant do that with 8 unless I buy add-ons.

      Also Windows 7 pro includes an XP virtual machine...so why bother with 8?

    Windows 7 is barely 3 years old its not like its going anywhere anytime soon.

  3. Move to Win 8 doubtful by helixcode123 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't know if this is any sort of indication about the popularity of Windows 8, but I got my daughter a new Acer laptop with Windows 8 for a graduation present. She asked my to put Ubuntu on instead. Interestingly, she prefers Mate to the default Unity desktop. Aside: boots in seconds because I put /boot and /usr on the SSD drive. Very nice.

    --

    In a band? Use WheresTheGig for free.

  4. Re:Wrong question by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This. A billion times this.

    A lot of people don't really separate OS and hardware. They don't see the difference. To them, a computer comes with an OS and that's just something that is on the HD when they buy that thing. They don't even consider that they are essentially two very distinct things.

    So when they consider "I need a new computer", they rarely really consider buying a new OS. The OS is simply something that is already on the box when they buy it. To them, this means that "new computer" invariably means "Windows 8". Because it has become near impossible to get complete hardware+OS bundles with anything but Win8.

    And not wanting Win8 essentially means for them that they cannot buy a new computer now and have to wait until MS "fixes" this (with a new OS). Or they turn to different OSs. It might be interesting to check how Win8 affected Apple sales.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Re:You can pry XP from my cold, dead hands by Tharkkun · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Until the first big virus hits that exploits a security hole that won't be fixed. When you realize you machines that can't be patched and will continuously be infected you may think differently about corporate security.

    At which time you discover that continuously re-cleaning the machines is STILL easier and less work and money than replacing the poorly written proprietary corporate dreck resembling a Rube Goldberg machine that only runs under Windows XP.

    Tell that to your sales staff making $150k a year that you need to re-image or clean their machine twice a month. Better yet, watch their machine go down on the last day of the quarter causing you to miss your quarter. Stock tanks. Now your cost just went through the roof because you want to take the route of additional downtime versus fixing the problem outright. I would hope most people in the corporate environment know we use Windows 7 as well. This article discusses the pushing of new machines but it doesn't explain how most companies downgrade to Windows 7 based on the licensing.

  6. Re:You can pry XP from my cold, dead hands by LordLimecat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are they still finding vulnerabilities in Linux 2.4 after all these years?
    http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-33/product_id-47/version_id-19616/Linux-Linux-Kernel-2.4.31.html

    Oh look at that, they are.