Windows 7 may provide even more Mac users, think Apple.
Microsoft has finally released Windows 7, but Apple does not exactly seem to shiver in his pants because of that. This week, Apple has presented sales figures exceeded all expectations, in addition to that they have launched a number of exciting new products. Random? One can just speculate.
Several of Apple's top managers have also been hard against arch-rival this week, calling the new operating system for both the old and complicated.
- Windows users are tired all the problems that they have received over the years, from Windows ME to NT to Vista and now Windows 7, said Brian Crolles, Apple's senior director of product marketing of the Mac OS X.
- Buy a Mac!
Crolles believes Windows 7 requires too much of users. The operating system is missing applications like Mail and instant messaging, or programs for image processing - all this must be downloaded from the internet. According Crolles, these problems make people looking for something else when they buy a new computer. Preferably a Mac.
- It is both easy to use, stable and secure, "said Brian Crolles.
According Crolles is Windows 7 built on outdated technology that does not change from version to version.
- Windows 7 is still Windows. It does not change much. It is still complex, it is still very expensive when you see how much the upgrade costs, and there are still many security issues, he believes.
Apple has long bullied Microsoft because they think Windows makes it more difficult for the user than necessary. The upgrade from eg XP to Win7 require the user to reinstall the operating system, it means backup of files to an external hard drive, reformatting the hard drive, reinstallation of all applications and so on.
- A user who must go through all this is going to freak out. Why not just buy a Mac? said Apple's marketing Phil Schiller recently to Business Week.
Microsoft does not agree. Parri Munsell, president of the consumer market for Windows at Microsoft, said that most who go over to Windows 7, will buy new machines. Munsell is supported by analyst Stephen Baker at PC Data.
- I do not think we get a large influx of people with working XP machines that suddenly decides that they must have a brand new Mac, "says Baker of Business Week.
Windows 7 sells well
What kind of effect Windows 7 will have on Apple remains to be seen. According to the Wall Street analyst Brian Marshall in Broad Point Amtech Apple sits safely yet. Marshall has compared Apple's sales results after the launch of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista, and he found that the sale was the same or went up after the launch.
The British magazine, PC Advisor, said in general about the record sales of Windows 7 According to Amazon, Windows 7 surpassed Nintendo Wii and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the most pre-ordered product ever in the United Kingdom.
In addition, the UK store PC World sold more copies of Windows 7 during the three weeks in advance than they sold during Vista's first year.
Apple has also released three new Get-A-Mac commercials this week, with a focus on Windows 7
