PC World reports that PC manufacturer Acer has acknowledged widespread industry disappointment with Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.
Gianfranco Lanci, president of the fourth largest PC manufacturer worldwide, points out that Vista has serious stability and compatibility issues, and that customers are still demanding Windows XP on new hardware, particularly business customers.
The article also notes that despite Microsoft’s claims of strong Vista sales, Windows XP sales are predicted to be 50 percent higher this year than Microsoft’s original estimates, potentially totaling 22 percent to Vista’s 78 percent.
In other words, Vista has taken off more slowly than any new Microsoft OS release since Windows achieved desktop dominance in the early 1990’s. Furthermore, Vista is not driving new PC sales as hoped. People are settling for Vista because it’s all they can find.
The release of the first service pack for Vista has still not been announced. Service Pack 1 for Windows XP was a significant milestone, making the product ready for widespread deployment. Given the major hurdles Vista still must overcome in terms of hardware and software compatibility, Vista SP1 will be expected to work miracles. It had better.