As the PC industry readies for the upcoming Oct. 22 launch of Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently said that OS demand will only cause a small increase in PC sales.
"There will be a surge of PCs but it will probably not be huge," Ballmer noted during a recent news conference held in Munich.
PC manufacturers normally look for a sales boost from each new Windows OS launch -- as Windows still are used on 90% of PCs -- but the typical sales boost isn't expected in the coming months from the launch of Windows 7.
The new OS is the successor to Windows Vista, which wasn't embraced by the tech industry quite way Microsoft imagined. It was so well shunned, in fact, many companies stuck with Windows XP without switching to Vista in the first place.
A survey conducted by ScriptLogic two months ago revealed six out of 10 companies will not upgrade to Windows 7, claiming cost cutbacks and possible compatibility issues cause too many problems. Furthermore, 34% of those surveyed said they'll install the OSS by the end of 2010, with just 5.4% of companies saying they'll have it installed before the end of the year.
Since Microsoft doesn't plan to release a new OS until 2012, there is still some wiggle room for the company to try and better promote Windows 7 to businesses.
I've liked what I've seen so far from Windows 7 -- and expect the actual number of companies that deploy the OS before Windows 8 will be higher than the ScriptLogic survey -- it will be interesting to see how Microsoft tries to woo businesses to adopt the OS.
