More Fun Facts From The UK

After reading the usual articles, about the upgrade messes, the upgrade triumphs, the many complaints about cost, and a few people who are very paranoid, I came upon an article with no real conclusions, just facts.

I found it very interesting.

from PC Advisor

At Windows 7’s UK launch event yesterday, news was thin on the ground, but facts and figures came thick and fast. So, here goes.

• 8 million: Number of people who tested official pre-release versions of Windows 7
• 7 million: Number of people who got their hands on pre-release versions of Windows 7 via unofficial channels
• 66: Number of Windows 7 upgrade scenarios - i.e Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate (according to a question from the floor)
• 14: Number of smooth Windows 7 upgrade scenarios
• 95%: Windows’ share of the consumer operating system market in the UK, according to Microsoft’s Ashley Highfield
• 57%: Percentage of enterprises planning to upgrade their operating systems in the next 18 months, according to Forrester
• 14 million: Number of PC sales expected in the UK next year
• 60%: Percentage of UK households with more than two PCs

I will now, attempt to draw some cogent conclusions from these facts.

The pre-release testing is amazing, and though I have read some people’s reasons for trying this, I still am baffled by whether it was simply the right time, or the fact that Microsoft wanted to get far ahead of the curve on having people become familiar with Windows 7.  Do many feel they deserve to have a preview of a new OS, or was it a matter of knowing about it before plunking down the bucks? I would have thought that many people i speak to would be running the beta and RC, because it was free. Too many however, were still wary of beta code, and also of running a dual boot system. (Those worried about getting the boot sector hosed obviously need to become friendly with GPartEd)

The number of upgrade scenarios total, versus the number of smooth scenarios shows that Microsoft really does not hold its customers in high esteem.  This is probably because of the very next figure, which I’m certain the company is very proud of. It is truly amazing, but it also is not immune to slippage. The fact that OS X and Linux are not larger in the UK tends to make me think that there are fewer people willing to work on their own machines in the UK (for low Linux adoption) and that Apple prices are much higher there than here. The fact that there are so many Linux magazines from the UK, compared to the dearth of them here (comparatively) tells me that the number of people running Linux in the UK are fanatic; much more hard core and well-informed than the casual user here.

The Forrester number is uncertain. I have not seen if it is worldwide, or if that figure is broken out for the UK only. I believe I have seen figures for the US only, and they aren’t as high for that period of time. Both here and in the UK, the adoption figures are a very high prediction, but seems to coincide with natural 3-5 year replacement hardware cycles.

This number of PCs in the house rivals the US, which means that we are not that special, and that the Brits love their PCs as much as we do.

I’d like to see the number of people who are running the RC, and are planning to switch, yet will not do so until next March, when the RC starts shutting down every two hours.

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