Microsoft News Tracker

Sometimes you just have to laugh - ‘Craplets’ could damage Vista launch: Microsoft exec:

A senior Microsoft Corp. executive says the company is concerned that uncertified third-party software loaded onto new computers by manufacturers could hurt the launch of consumer versions of its Windows Vista operating system later this month.

In a discussion Tuesday night at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Microsoft official told CBC News Online, on condition of anonymity, that the world’s largest software maker is frustrated by legal shackles that prevent the company from restricting what kinds of software major computer makers install on new PCs.

“We can’t do anything about it because it would be illegal,” the executive said in reference to restrictions placed on the company following a U.S. federal anti-trust lawsuit against the company.

The concern arises from third-party software that hardware makers commonly install on new computers in exchange for a fee, many of which have not been tested and certified by Microsoft to work with Vista, the executive said. They include things such as links to online services, and demo versions of programs.

“We call them craplets,” the official said. The term is a contraction of the words “crap” and “applet.” An applet is a small computer program or application.

Yeah, it’s an anonymous source, but I’ll take it at face value because I hate “craplets” and expect there are a lot of other folks who do too. However, I’m also intimately aware of the thin margins in the PC business and the money from installing preloads is very important. The PC ecosystem is largely a creation of Microsoft and if they don’t like what the OEMs have to do to make a living, maybe they could knock a few bucks off the Vista licensing fee. I doubt that any antitrust regulator would object to that. Besides, what happened to all that ISV outreach to ensure quality Vista applications?

I’m beginning to think it’s possible to have too many sales estimates for game consoles. Anyhow, the NPD numbers are in for US retail store sales in December and Microsoft’s Xbox got 50%:

Nintendo Co. Ltd. sold 604,200 of its new Wii video game consoles in the United States in December, beating Sony Corp. which sold 490,700 units of its new PlayStation 3, according to retail market research firm NPD.

Microsoft Corp. sold 1.1 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in December.

According to my calculator, that’s a total of 2,194,900 and Microsoft got half. The usual NPD caveats apply (brick and mortar stores only…).

Meanwhile in Japan:

Sony Corp. sold 466,716 PlayStation 3 game consoles in Japan by the end of last month, less than half of its shipment target and of sales of Nintendo Co.’s rival Wii console, video game magazine publisher Enterbrain said on Tuesday.

Enterbrain said Nintendo sold 989,118 Wii units despite a launch date about three weeks later than the PS3 in Japan. Nintendo introduced the Wii in Japan on Dec. 2 and had a target of shipping 1 million units in that market by year end.

…

Sony said earlier this week that it met its goal of shipping 1 million PS3 units to North America since its launch there on Nov. 17, but did so by diverting units from Japan.

Microsoft isn’t mentioned because their Japanese sales are in the noise, but it looks like Nintendo might well have the leading game console worldwide for December. And if you don’t mind my hitting my favorite nail once again, Nintendo makes money on every one, unlike Microsoft and Sony. As for Sony, the game may change when they get their production glitches sorted, but they’re clearly playing catch up.

Update: Todd Bishop digs into the NPD data and observes that the Sony PS2 outsold any of the “next gen” consoles and that the Nintendo DS handheld was the overall bestseller. The latter plus the Wii sales are why Nintendo just upped their full year profit forecast by 20%.