Newton's laws Vista- new, but not better

Author: Thomas Newton

In a world where new is always better, Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, seems to be the exception. Its introduction in January of this year was met with lackluster sales. Most users couldn't see any reason to leave their trusty Windows XP for the marginal upgrades Vista offers. The very steep price and high system requirements also kept consumers away. Sales analysts thought this response normal, and assumed that consumers would upgrade to Vista when they bought new computers. This assumption seemed logical, as consumers tend to want the latest and greatest in regards to technology. Why, then, are Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo reintroducing Windows XP as an option when consumers purchase new computers?

The answer is to respond to consumer demand.

Richard Shim, an IDC analyst, said that, the fact "that there is remaining demand [for Windows XP], points to the inability of Vista to resonate with consumers." Microsoft, in a statement about these companies' reintroduction of XP, said that such a response is normal after the launch of a new operating system. But the question still exists: why are consumers demanding an old version of an operating system over a new one?

The answer can be found in a comparison between Microsoft and Apple, as they constitute the two main operating system manufacturers on the market. Where sales of Microsoft's newest operating system have been less than stellar, Apple has continued on an upward trend with regards to the number of users switching over from Windows to Mac. Part of this may be explained by Apple's more aggressive advertising, but another aspect of the dynamic between the two companies may be the fact that Microsoft shamelessly copied its "new" features in Vista from Apple's operating system, Mac OS X. Consumers may not see the sense in buying a brand new, bug-ridden operating system over the well-established system that it was copied from.

For this argument to make sense, the features of Vista and OS X have to be compared. Microsoft lists the new features of Vista as updated and more fluid graphics, "gadgets" which are mini-apps that sit on your desktop and display up-to -date information, improved searching features that allow you to search the entire computer in seconds, new multimedia tools such as Windows DVD Maker and improved security. Apple's OS X uses a dedicated core animation processor to create fluid, 3D graphics, has "widgets," which inspired Window's "gadgets," Spotlight, which allows you to search the entire computer in seconds, a multimedia suite called iLife which includes iDVD and iMovie and a very solid built-in security system. The features of Vista are blatant copies of those that have been found in Apple's OS X since 2001. Microsoft, then, is not only suffering from poor sales of Vista because of high prices and requirements, but because Vista is in no way original. Why overpay for an operating system that is marginally better than the one it is replacing when you could just get the older version or switch to Apple?