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When Microsoft’s Windows 7 desktop OS arrived, with it being everything Vista was meant to be and more, the collective relief in tech circles was astonishing. Microsoft managed to save face and deliver a home run with their latest desktop OS, and consumers have rewarded the company handsomely for this, with 300 million licenses of the software sold to date!

Buried in the financial report

Microsoft announced this major Windows 7 achievement last week alongside their rock solid earnings report for the quarter. The company’s Brandon LeBlanc would later confirm this astonishing total in a blog post.

He wrote: ‘Today, as part of our Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2011 earnings release, we announced that Windows 7 has sold over 300 million licenses to-date.’

Can anyone even quantify that figure in their mind? What does that even mean? Le Blanc adds: ‘To put that in perspective, 300 million is roughly the combined number of households in North American and in Europe! Or, to put it another way, if you lined up 300 million Windows 7 product boxes, they would stretch nearly 1.5 times around the Earth.’ What’s more, according to Net Applications, north of 20 per cent of PCs that are internet connected presently run the Windows 7 desktop OS.

The promised land

For a service or product to be critically appraised is a major achievement. For a service or product to attain commercial success is a major achievement. Yet, for a service or product to attain both commercial and critical appreciation is the promised land of commerce. And Microsoft has done just this with their Windows 7 desktop OS.

Perhaps these sales figures wouldn’t be as great this quickly if Vista wasn’t so terrible, but who knows and who cares? All that matters to Microsoft is that Windows 7 continues to proliferate to PCs everywhere.

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We’ve know for some time now that Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS is a sales beast. We watched it race out the gates, soar past 150 million users, sell more than 7 every 7 seconds, and eclipse its predecessor Windows Vista in no time. In short, Microsoft’s operating system team has had much to celebrate.

More celebrations

Well, just as it seemed time for the team to put the champagne bottles away and get back to work, Statcounter.com has reported that the Windows 7 OS now has 25 per cent of the PC market share, with its predecessor from two generations ago, Windows XP, slipping towards the 50 per cent marker. What’s more, it is inevitable that Microsoft’s current operating system will continue to chew up market share, and will certainly be the biggest threat to Windows XP’s long time dominance.

Where to next?

Back in October, it was reported that Microsoft’s current OS crossed the 240 million licenses sold threshold. As impressive as that is, current estimates have Windows 7 crossing the 300 million licenses sold before the year’s end. Seriously, folks, if each person in the world had just one computer, Microsoft’s current OS would be on in one in seven of them. Unreal.

The problem

While it is silly to look at these Windows 7 OS numbers with any measure of gloom, Microsoft should be worried that its dominance is limited to the desktop domain, while the computing world is making an inevitable shift towards mobile. And while it stands to reason that the PC market won’t exactly fall off a cliff, Microsoft wants to ensure that its biggest threats – Apple and Google – don’t have a way to erode its business. Well, those same two threats are the ones looking like winning the mobile computing revolution, much to Team Redmond’s dismay.

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It was inevitable that the unmitigated success that is Windows 7 would soon pass the unmitigated disaster that was Windows Vista. That has now happened, with research indicating Microsoft’s latest OS is installed on more computers than its predecessor.

Windows market share breakdown

Research by Net Applications indicates that Windows 7 has 14.46 per cent of the global OS market share, leaping past the 14.34 per cent Windows Vista accounts for. What makes this particularly remarkable is that Windows 7 has only been around for less than a year – closer to 10 months, in fact.

However, Windows 7 celebration and ubiquity aside, Microsoft latest OS has a long way to go before it even gets a look at XP. Arguably Microsoft’s most significant operating system in terms of impact, Windows XP holds 61.97 per cent of the worldwide OS market share, which is more than four times that of Windows 7. Collectively, Microsoft’s OSes has over 91 per cent of the operating system market.

Everybody else’s market share breakdown

Mac OS X, the operating system found in Apple laptops and desktops, holds about 5 per cent of the global OS market share, sliding for the fourth consecutive month and 0.3 per cent off its lifetime peak of 5.3 per cent. That’s not to say that Macs are no longer selling, because they are selling like hot cakes, it is to say that PCs are outselling them and the abandonment rate of other Windows OSes for Windows 7 is accelerating.

Down the pecking order, open source operating system Linux accounted for 1 per cent of the global operating system market share. Just below Linux, believe it or not, is Apple’s iOS operating system that now accounts for 0.7 per cent of OS market share across the globe. That’s a ton of iPhones, iPads and iPods being sold.

Research methodology

The study, which was compiled by web analytics firm Net Applications, was compiled by monitoring the visitors to websites that are clients of the firm. This amounted to around 160 million visitors across over 40,000 websites Net Applications monitors on clients’ behalves.

And while we often dismiss some studies for being statistically unsound, the sample size hear is simply too big to ignore.

Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft has announced that its latest Windows operating system, Windows 7, has now exceeded the 150 million units sold mark, reaffirming (and cementing) its place as the fastest selling operating system of all time.

Seven sold every second

This 150 million sold figure represents ‘seven copies of Windows 7 sold every second’ since the Windows operating system was released on 22 October 2009. The bulk of these sales are driven by enterprise, with Microsoft’s research indicating that 75 per cent of enterprises are exploring the adoption of Microsoft’s latest Windows operating system.

Why the explosive sales rate

The explosive sales rate is indicative of two things – one, the quality of Windows 7 and, two, how shocking Windows Vista was. Regarding the OS quality, Microsoft’s latest Windows operating system is a modern OS with a UI upgrade more indicative of the times, minus the problems (security, stability, excessive notifications) that marred Windows Vista. Speaking of Windows Vista, that operating system’s biggest problem to adoption was how bad it was. Or, to take a softer position, how badly received it was. Add that to the fact that it was released right before a painful recession, which meant enterprises were cutting spending, Windows Vista never really had a fighting chance.

A quick turnover

Photo: gynti_46 / Flickr

The last time we wrote about Windows 7’s explosive sales rate, Microsoft’s latest Windows operating system had past the 90 million sold threshold. This was at the beginning of March, meaning that in the three and a half months since, Microsoft has added an impressive 60 million units to that total, showing that sales are not tapering off yet.

Room to breathe (and fight)

Microsoft is reliant on Windows 7 and Office 2010 to generate significant revenue for it while the company navigates more competitive market spaces like smartphone operating systems, video games, and its many cloud computing initiatives.

Photo: Microsoft

With Apple’s market cap overtaking Microsoft’s for the first time ever, it stands to reason that many are scratching their heads over at Redmond wondering what happened. Here we look at what Microsoft’s done wrong the last five years as we search for clues on what they can do to remedy their situation. In fairness, between Windows 7, Office 2010 and, yes, the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s already on its way – but problems first.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is possibly Microsoft’s biggest mistake of the last half decade. The uninspiring, incomplete, bloated operating system undersold, giving Windows 7 a heavy burden. Windows Vista was so bad in fact, many users stuck with the more familiar Windows XP. And, with the Windows group coupled with the Office group contributing the bulk of Microsoft’s revenue, to have one half of your one-two underperforming will depress any company’s share price.

Windows mobile

Windows mobile was an underdeveloped, highly fragmented, underperforming misstep, too. Apple and Google Android have since stolen Microsoft’s thunder in the mobile OS category, but Microsoft under-innovated in a space it had the jump on everybody. With the iPhone OS platform and the App store generating the obscene revenues it currently is, therein lies evidence of the opportunity Windows mobile left behind.

In both product instances, Microsoft had become lazy, and it took the market not responding and competitors taking Microsoft money for the company to realise this.

The silver lining

Photo: Microsoft

This is not all doom and gloom, though. Microsoft is still a massive company, larger than many global economies. Furthermore, the company’s recent product set has us believing Steve Ballmer and co. have turned the corner in resuming normal, awe-inspiring activities. Windows 7 and Office 2010 bring the stability only core products can offer such a massive company. But, in the Windows Phone 7 Series, the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s cloud computing initiatives, the company has three nascent product sets that could be game changing. They have strong competitors in each category, but Microsoft has financial resources and engineering talent the envy of companies (and governments) worldwide. It just takes perfect execution.

Remember, Steve Ballmer, ‘Developers, developers, developers’!

Hewlett Packard recently launched a new business line of notebooks by the name EliteBook and the models of this line are considered to have a caliber that is worth appreciating. The laptops coming under the name of HP EliteBook 6930p are the line’s flagship model and are loaded with exciting new security features. They have an elegant and durable design and the new Centrino® 2 platform of Intel strengthens the security measures. The vPro™ technology of the Intel® Centrino® 2 allows you to remotely monitor, diagnose and repairs PCs over the network.

With the kind of features that the HP EliteBook 6930p notebooks come with, they have set new standards in the notebook industry.  Some of the names included among the HP EliteBook 6930p laptops are HP EliteBook 6930p (NQ430UC#ABU), HP EliteBook 6930p (FL488AW#ABU) and HP EliteBook 6930p (GB982ET#ABU).

The choice of operating systems provided in this line of notebooks include Genuine Windows Vista® Business 32, Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic, Genuine Windows Vista® Business with downgrade to Windows® XP Professional custom installed and FreeDOS. The network features included in the HP EliteBook 6930p laptops include Wi-Fi certified WLAN, Bluetooth and an optional HP Mobile Broadband thus allowing you to stay connected anywhere and everywhere. The graphics card incorporated in these range of notebooks is either ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 Graphics or the latest Intel integrated graphics.

The HP notebooks are a combination of both tough and elegant designs and have brushed metal looks. The keyboard is easy to type and produces less noise while typing.

The HP Pavilion dv7-2070 (NL862EAABU) is another incredible notebook manufactured by HP, which belongs to the HP Pavilion dv7 series. Hewlett Packard is renowned for creating machines with high efficiency which provide better performance throughout. The HP Pavilion dv7-2070 (NL862EAABU) has a 17.3 inch display screen which allows the user to view clear pictures and videos. The HP Pavilion dv7-2070 includes an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor which ensures better and faster performance. The notebook has a processor bus of 2600 MHz that allows the laptop to receive quick information. The HP Pavilion dv7-2070 (NL862EAABU) has a RAM memory of 4096 MB and has a 500 GB hard disk. The inclusion of the 500 GB hard disk in this HP notebook means that it has gained capacity to store a huge amount of data, songs and movies. 1 GB memory can store near about 200 MP3 songs, so just imagine how many songs and videos can a 500 GB hard disk store?

HP Pavilion dv7-2070 (NL862EAABU) uses the ATI Mobility Radeon HD4530 graphics card to provide better quality graphics layout. The notebook also includes DVD-ROM and can play CDs and DVDs as well as write and label them. The HP Pavilion dv7-2070 (NL862EAABU) notebook also includes 4 x USB 2.0 connection ports along with HDMI and VGA D-Sub (HD-15) video output for providing the user with a high quality video viewing. The notebook has in-built speakers and webcam. It also has integrated security system like the Kensington lock support and finger-print reader. The HP Pavilion notebook uses Windows Vista Operating System and weighs approximately 3.52 kg.

Tags for this article: laptop, intel, hp dv7

Advent 6651 is one of the most advanced laptops with a 17 inch wide screen. The screen of the laptop has the resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels that provides amazing picture quality. The screen fulfils all the multimedia needs of business as well as home users. Advent 6651 comes in a stylish black colour that gives it a royal look.

The Advent 6651 is equipped with 250 GB hard drive that offers more than enough space for storing data. The laptop is powered by a 2.16GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core processor and has 3,072 MB of RAM. It supports Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium and has a DVD writer installed in it. Additionally, the Advent 6651 comes with an inbuilt webcam, two USB ports and a card reader. The inbuilt webcam has an amazing clarity and enables you to video chat directly through the laptop. The laptop is WiFi enabled and hence it can be connected to any wireless network easily.

The laptop has all these amazing features but it just weighs around 3.4 kg that makes it handy and compact to carry. Advent 6651 has a 2.16GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core processor and over 3 GB of RAM that provides swift performance. The Advent 6651 laptop has over 3 GB of RAM hence it supports all the computer games. The 17 inch screen and in built speakers provide a superb gaming experience. In comparison with other latest laptops the Advent 6651 provides better performance and is equipped with all the latest features.

A high-class performer, Samsung R720 (NP-R720-AS01UK) is powered by the state-of-the-art Intel Core 2 Duo processor that can handle multiple programmes simultaneously and smoothly. The Samsung R Series notebook has a sharp LED display screen with a wide aspect ratio of 16:9 and energy-efficient LED backlight. The display screen offers sharp and vivid images that are true to life. For enhanced connectivity, the laptop has a chargeable USB port, combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port and fast speed wireless connection. Designed to be a sleek, the laptop has a shiny blue-rimmed touchpad with an alluring blue light and a smooth isolation design. A stunning machine from Korean manufacturer Samsung, it is complimented by a range of high performance features that make it suitable for one the move. Perfect for a desktop replacement, the laptop offers richer sounds by way of SRS TruSurround sound effects.

It has an ultra sharp 17.3 inch LED screen which is optimised for watching HD movies or playing games and also makes it easier to use Windows Vista gadgets. Equipped with the latest optical disc drive and built-in stereo speakers, you can enjoy improved content, with perfect image and sound reproduction at home as well as in office. Lightweight and compact, the laptop weighs a mere 2.88kg and is one of the lightest machines among 17 inch screens. A perfect balance of price, performance and portability, the Samsung R720 (NP-R720-AS01UK) comes with a battery AC Adapter, power cord and software CDs. Perfect for desktop replacement, the R720 from Samsung is a simple yet sleek machine equipped with the a Blu-ray Player, HDMI Port and built-in SRS TruSurround stereo speakers. It has 4GB RAM and a hard drive capacity of 320GB.

Robust and flexible, Lenovo 3000 N500 (NS779UK) is a high quality notebook, ideal for a small business, home office and everywhere in between. Powered by powerful Intel processors, the Lenovo notebook’s hard drive capacity and memory options all suit your busy lifestyle and active business needs and also your budget. It has Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista preloaded software as its operating system, which ensures smoothly running behind the scenes. Designed specifically for the small business customer who demands great value and expects features to fit their specific needs, Lenovo 3000 N500 (NS779UK) offers a well-balanced combination of performance, design and multimedia tools.

Offering an enhanced user experience, the Lenovo 3000 N500 (NS779UK) supports double duty usage with enhanced multimedia and connectivity options for on the move flexibility and the latest technologies. The Lenovo 3000 N500 (NS779UK) has a stylish 15.4 inch widescreen that provides more viewing area than standard LCD screens. The widescreen offers extra space allowing increased productivity when using applications such as multi-column spreadsheets. Its Core2Duo T6400 processor allows the user to work fast and efficiently. It has a 3GB RAM and a 320GB hard disc drive to store your entire file, photos, music, software and other media with ease. Designed to address needs of a small business, the notebook is equipped with Intel Montevina technology. Office ready, the notebook comes with Audio Input. It runs on 6 lithium-ion cells that have a maximum running time of 3.8 hours. Bluetooth aerial, stereo speakers and Wireless LAN aerial are the notebook’s built-in devices.