Windows 8 Will Play Very Nicely With Windows 7
Over 400 Million Windows 7 Licenses Sold!
Kicking off Microsoft's annual Worldwide Partner Conference, CEO Steve Ballmer today thanked partners for helping make Windows 7 the fastest-selling operating system in history, now with more than 400 million Windows 7 licenses sold in less than two years.
Echoing that point, Tami Reller, corporate vice president and chief financial officer of Windows and Windows Live, emphasized that Windows 7 is the path to Windows 8. Noting that there are still more than 200 million PCs running Windows XP, which was launched in 2001, Reller told partners they have a real opportunity to deliver more value to customers in the short term and "set them up for the future."
In providing an overview of the road ahead with Windows, Reller told partners that despite the record growth and success of Windows 7, there is tremendous Windows 7 deployment opportunity now and well into the future. "We see a future with a heterogeneous enterprise environment of Windows 8 devices and apps alongside Windows 7 PCs and apps," she said.
"At the heart of our ability to deliver Windows 8 is the flexibility Windows has consistently shown; its ability to adapt over time is what ensures Windows will continue to be highly relevant in the future," Reller added.
Given that current expectations are for Windows 8 to arrive sometime in 2012, it's in everyone's best interest that Microsoft is making Windows 8 as compatible as possible with any business migrations to Windows 7.
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openi3 Sold? Hmmm Windows license... you can't own it, it doesn't go off but it expires. You don't upgrade because you need to XP > vista = duff upgradeReply
XP > Win 7 = purchase new license.
Because you can't buy old hardware at the store, you won't be able to use XP.
Floppy > CD = Dos > Windows
Windows > XP = cd > DVD, Blu Ray
XP > W7 = HD resolution 3d graphics (DX10, DX11)
Windows 8 doesn't offer a compelling enough reason for me to upgrade my XP licenses as yet... Still looking at Windows 7...
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Graham_71 I think M$ are loosing sales of Windows 7 buy setting it's termination date before Windows 8 is released.Reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
With so many XP users still out there and considering Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium & Ultimate support will be terminated on January 13, 2015 only 9 months after support for XP is terminated April 8, 2014, it's best to wait for windows 8 unless your getting Professional or Enterprise edition which has support until January 14, 2020 -
huron Wouldn't we expect this to be the case (or at least claimed to be the case)? It's not like we would have them come out and say - These won't ever function together and Windows 8 will be totally different. You'll just have to buy it and see...Reply
Wouldn't that be a ridiculous claim...at least from a PR and marketing standpoint.
I think we can only wait and see what it is really like. -
RazberyBandit 400 million Win7 licenses. OK. More than 200 million PCs still using XP? OK. But, such wording could leave one to believe there are currently twice as many Win7 users as there are XP users. That's not the case.Reply
OEMs buy OS licenses in bulk, often by the tens of thousands at once. So, OEMs have purchased enough Win7 licenses to produce 400 million Win7 PCs. That doesn't mean they have made those 400 million PCs, and it certainly doesn't mean they've actually sold them and are in use. PCs sometimes sit on a store shelf for years, unsold. Some retailers may still have unsold XP or Vista machines.
The real measure for Win7's adoption would be an account of how many licenses have been activated. Til then, that 400 million number is at best an estimate of it's potential success and adoption.
As for the comments regarding business integration of Win7, I know of very few who have bothered to do so. Most still run XP, having also skipped Vista. Why? Because it's poor business sense to constantly fix things that aren't broken. Unless Win8 offers something new that businesses absolutely crave, Win8 may suffer a similar fate. -
drwho1 for my needs I have no plans to upgrade from windows 7, is as simple as that, plus I like to keep my stuff on my hard drives... thank you very much.Reply
clouds are nice, even enjoy a rainy day, but I will never trust my data to a cloud. -
tntom @RazberyBandit What you say maybe true and had they said 'activated' instead of 'sold' it would be much clearer how many are in use, since Win7 calls home for activation. But I'm sure they don't want the public breaking down the figures. What is more, all that Microsoft cares about is money in the bank, which is what 'licenses sold' represents.Reply -
RobinPanties RazberyBandit400 million Win7 licenses. OK. More than 200 million PCs still using XP? OK. But, such wording could leave one to believe there are currently twice as many Win7 users as there are XP users. That's not the case.OEMs buy OS licenses in bulk, often by the tens of thousands at once. So, OEMs have purchased enough Win7 licenses to produce 400 million Win7 PCs. That doesn't mean they have made those 400 million PCs, and it certainly doesn't mean they've actually sold them and are in use. PCs sometimes sit on a store shelf for years, unsold. Some retailers may still have unsold XP or Vista machines.The real measure for Win7's adoption would be an account of how many licenses have been activated. Til then, that 400 million number is at best an estimate of it's potential success and adoption.As for the comments regarding business integration of Win7, I know of very few who have bothered to do so. Most still run XP, having also skipped Vista. Why? Because it's poor business sense to constantly fix things that aren't broken. Unless Win8 offers something new that businesses absolutely crave, Win8 may suffer a similar fate.Reply
You have a point, but I think it's only relavent if you're looking from a particular perspective. Microsoft was thanking their partners for buying 400 million copies. Articles like these are taking that figure and attempting to journalistically use it as a benchmark of success. Which, from a business standpoint, it is. Even if each license cost OEM's $75-$100 apiece, multiply by 400 million and you could say Microsoft has been successful from a business standpoint with their Windows 7 OS.. Internally, their bosses are high fiving and backslapping and shaking employees hands at their company picnic because they have successfully built and sold many copies and raked in their R&D, labor, advertising costs and profited as well... YOUR real measure as a fan might be about how many copies were activated... however, you're also talking about OEM copies, which I believe are activated by the factories anyways, so most of those probably ARE activated, and just waiting for the end user to "Register" online, although, I don't usually buy pre-manufactured PC's, so I could be wrong about that part... regardless, if you can afford it, you might want to buy Microsoft stock, not sure if you've noticed over the last few decades... but those guys know how to make money... -
marraco I' tired of so many pointless upgrades...Reply
I think I gonna give Windows Watever the middle finger this time.