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HP Brings Back Windows 7 'By Popular Demand' As Buyers Shun Windows 8

Posted by timothy on from the classic-coke-stockholm-syndrome dept.

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Gregg Keizer reports at Computerworld that Hewlett-Packard has stuck their finger in Microsoft's eye by launching a new promotion that discounts several consumer PCs by $150 when equipped with Windows 7, saying the four-year-old OS is 'back by popular demand.' 'The reality is that there are a lot of people who still want Windows 7,' says Bob O'Donnel. 'This is a twist, though, and may appeal to those who said, "I do want a new PC, but I thought I couldn't get Windows 7."' The promotion reminded O'Donnell and others of the dark days of Windows Vista, when customers avoided Windows 7's predecessor and instead clamored for the older Windows XP on their new PCs. Then, customers who had heard mostly negative comments about Vista from friends, family and the media, decided they would rather work with the devil they knew rather than the new one they did not. 'It's not a perfect comparison,' says O'Donnell, of equating Windows 8 with Vista, 'but the perception of Windows 8 is negative. I said early on that Windows 8 could clearly be Vista Version 2, and that seems to have happened.' HP has decided that the popularity of Windows 7 is its best chance of encouraging more people to buy new computers in a declining market and is not the first time that HP has spoken out against Microsoft. 'Look at the business model difference between Intel and ARM. Look at the operating systems. In today's world, other than Microsoft there's no one else who charges for an operating system,' said HP executive Sridhar Solur in December, adding that that the next generation of computers could very well not be dominated by Microsoft." Also at SlashCloud.

9 of 513 comments (clear)

  1. New MS business plan by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) Relabel Windows 7 boxes "Windows 8 Desktop Edition"
    2) Raise prices
    3) Profit

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:New MS business plan by Ynot_82 · · Score: 5, Funny

      1) Relabel Windows 7 boxes "Windows 9"

      Fixed that for you

    2. Re:New MS business plan by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 4, Funny

      And Windows XP as Windows 11.

      Ha! Spinal Tap reference! Imagine Steve Ballmer dancing around an 18" Stonehenge.

    3. Re:New MS business plan by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      Windows NT - doesn't fit the pattern so people ignore it
      Windows 2000 - doesn't fit the pattern so people ignore it

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    4. Re:New MS business plan by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Microsoft Windows: the Star Trek movies of Operating Systems

    5. Re:New MS business plan by reboot246 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Isn't it time for your medications?

  2. Upgrade path? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is HP providing an easy upgrade path from 8 to 7?

  3. Re:HP has the pull to get MS to fix windows by 8.2 by Merk42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    What is wrong with the Start Screen vs Start Menu?
    The Start Screen can:

    • Fit more shortcuts on screen at once
    • No drilling through folders
    • Takes advantage of the whole screen (when do you ever need to see the active application and the start menu at the same time?).
  4. Re:Touch-screen desktop PCs are a fad by 0123456 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Try using it for once in your life.

    We have. That's why we hate it.