The evolution of a giant

Microsoft is showing signs that it is willing to evolve but it needs to do much more to survive in the networked age, argues Bill Thompson

Sales of the Vista operating system have been higher than expected

The long-delayed launch of Windows Vista and the associated Office 2007 seems to have been a success, at least financially.

In the last quarter Microsoft earned $14bn (£7bn) and the company believes its sales for 2008 will be around $57bn (£28bn).

More people are buying Vista - or buying PCs that come with Vista already installed on it - than anticipated, although like any sensible company Microsoft will have pitched expectations at the low end of its real internal projections.

In general, levels of consumer acceptance of the new software, both the operating system and the new generation of office applications, have been reasonably high.

The news that Dell has decided that it will once more sell PCs with Window XP installed, instead of forcing new buyers to move to Vista, is seen as evidence that the new operating system is not proving popular.

However, that could just as easily be a reflection of the reality that in a two or three computer household most non-technical people would rather have them all running the same operating system, even an older one.

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[temi]

Ummm,
MS will continue to milk us till a serious alternative is available

It's there already, growing and getting stronger every day... and it's FREE! It's name is
UBUNTU

The only problem so far are the programs' developers who do not let out linux/unix editions of their software (like Photoshop ) That is the limitation. But more and more software developers start to change their attitude, and also there are free alternatives to the commercial programs, but not as good of course.

Anyway, it's worth trying.