Few new PCs and notebooks are available to consumers without Microsoft's latest operating system pre-packaged, says Karl May, Fujitsu Siemens Computers' VP of global sourcing.
Speaking at Computex Taipei's inaugural executive forum this week, May explained the lack of consumer choice was due to retailer stock-keeping decisions.
"Retailers aren't stocking Windows XP anymore for the simple reason that they don't want to have to discuss the benefits of one operating system over another. So they have chosen to stick only to Windows Vista as it is the latest version from Microsoft," he said.
Windows Vista became generally available to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), like Fujitsu Siemens Computers, at the end of January this year. However, software vendor Microsoft offered its Windows Vista Express Upgrade program between October 2006 and March 2007, to facilitate the upgrade from Windows XP once the new operating system became available.
Vista sales
Globally, a total of two million orders were received for this upgrade program. Of these, 30% came from the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, said May.
In the same period, he noted, Fujitsu Siemens Computers recorded 2.3 million Windows XP shipments. However, Microsoft's Express Upgrade program only generated 45 000, or 2%, of orders.
Once Vista became available for OEM shipping, it accounted for 45% of Fujitsu Siemens Computers' shipments, with XP dropping to 55%. In April, the company's Vista shipments had risen to 65%, with XP falling to 35%.
"We are certainly seeing a transition from XP to Vista, but it is largely driven by consumer sales where 82% of our shipments are Vista-loaded. In the business market it's quite the opposite. These customers are buying Vista-ready hardware, but 86% have XP loaded," said May.
Fujitsu Siemens Computers' view on business transition to Vista is that it is gradual among small and medium enterprises, while the majority of large enterprise customers, as well as government agencies, continue to deploy non-Vista systems.
"We expect uptake among large companies and government agencies to continue to be very limited in 2007. Organisations still have to test the system and establish whether other applications in use are supported by Vista. Sales will be slow," he concluded.
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