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It’s good news for Microsoft’s Windows cash cow when PC sales are good, and Amanda Cantrell at the AP reports that 1Q US PC retail sales were zooming based on data from market analysis firm, Current Analysis:
Computer makers enjoyed strong year-over-year growth during the first calendar quarter this year, according to new U.S. retail sales data.
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Of the companies and retail stores that Current Analysis tracks, first quarter laptop sales grew 43.6 percent over the previous year, while first quarter desktop sales grew 16.3.
The caveat is necessary because they don’t track direct sellers like the top vendor, Dell, and they don’t track all retail sales. Some company numbers: HP up 29%, HP Compaq up 69%, Gateway up 166% in laptops. The growth seems to be the result of falling prices across the board, with laptop prices in particular down 20% on average. One other factoid: “PCs running Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center OS now dominate the market, accounting for 60 percent of desktops sold in U.S. retail.”
Meanwhile in instant messaging, comScore networks released a study claiming that Microsoft’s MSN Messenger is the number 1 client worldwide:
The MSN Messenger application has the strongest penetration worldwide, with 61 percent of worldwide IM users utilizing the application in February. MSN Messenger is also dominant in Latin America, reaching more than 90 percent of IM users, and in Europe and Asia Pacific, reaching more than 70 percent of IM users in each region. North America is the most competitive IM market, with MSN Messenger, AOL/Aim and Yahoo! Messenger each garnering between 27 percent and 37 percent of IM users in February.
Also interesting were the differences in IM use by geography with Latin America being the IM leader.
Finally, the bad news for Microsoft was Internet search. Mary Crane at Forbes:
According to the latest data released by comScore, a global market research provider, Google continues to dominate the online search market worldwide.
Google’s market share increased to 60.3% in February, from 60% the month before, and gained most of its market share from Yahoo! and Microsoft MSN, reports Bear Stearns analyst Robert S. Peck in a Monday research note.
Not a big change, but no one seems to be able to dent Google’s share so far.
If you aren’t familiar with it, Sling Media’s Slingbox is hardware attachment for your home television setup that allows you to control all the attached pieces and stream the resulting output to yourself on a Windows PC anywhere via the Internet. The intent is “placeshifting” of your home TV content. Now, Ed Oswald reports at BetaNews that Microsoft is testing a software equivalent for Media Center PC’s:
Microsoft is currently testing a Slingbox-like add-on that would allow Windows Media Center users to watch programming on their PCs from anywhere using mobile devices and laptops, BetaNews has learned.
The feature uses a software application rather than a set-top box, as Slingbox utilizes to control a TiVo, cable or satellite box remotely. The resulting stream would play through Windows Media Player.
A demo viewed by BetaNews last week indicates that the service would even work over slower mobile data connections, such as EDGE.
It’s not quite the same as the Slingbox since there’s no remote control of live programming, but it is apparently capable of playing previously recorded content residing on the host Media Center PC. More details and commentary by following the link.
Concerning the earlier post on the extension of support for Windows XP Home, Joris Evers at CNET interviews Microsoft program manager, Ines Vargas, who says it was all just a web site mistake and that the newly revised web site reflects the unchanged policy of continued mainstream support for XP Home and XP Media Center until two years after Vista ships.
I’ll take her word for what the actual policy was and is, but I can’t help but offer a demurrer. If Vista ships in late 2006, come Christmas 2008 all the small business people, average Joes/Joans, and grannies in Peoria that have a Windows XP Home or Media Center system (some only two years old) are effectively going to be told to ante up for a Vista upgrade and even worse, install it, if they don’t want Internet nasties to infect their machines. Meanwhile, users of Windows XP Professional, which is mostly the same as Windows XP Home, will continue to get free security hotfixes for an additional five years under extended support while the XP Home users are outside the candy store with their noses pressed against the glass. Sounds like a PR nightmare to me, not to mention what it may do for sales of “home” systems for the rest of the year.
I suppose Microsoft could try to encourage people to purchase and install upgrades to XP Pro now while it is still available, but that merely moves the pain forward in time plus there’s no “business” upgrade for XP Media Center. The right answer is to give the “home” versions of XP the same extended support as the “business” versions. My guess is that Microsoft will be forced to do the equivalent of this anyway, so why not do it now and look good?
The Evers article lays the blame for this situation on the long delay for Vista to arrive, but I would also submit that an ample portion goes to sales of pre-configured machines where the user has no choice of Windows OS version and is unlikely in the first place to be aware of the implications of the invidious distinction between “home” and “business” versions of the same operating system.
You may recall the story last week that, because Windows XP Home was considered “home” as opposed to “business” software, Microsoft product support was scheduled to expire on 12/31/2006. Greg Keizer at TechWeb News has apparently been keeping an eye on the Microsoft Lifecycle pages and discovered that Microsoft Extends XP Home Support To ’08:
Microsoft has quietly extended the support lifespan of Windows XP Home, which as recently as last week was scheduled to be put out to pasture at the end of this year.
Analysts had pointed out that XP Home, and most other XP operating systems, would be cut off from technical support on Dec. 31, 2006, a potential problem since XP’s successor, Windows Vista, isn’t to release until shortly before that date
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In an updated support lifecycle listing, Microsoft said that all Windows XP products–which include Home, Pro, Embedded, Media Center, and Tablet PC–will enjoy mainstream support for “two years after the next version of this product is released.”
Which with Vista scheduled to ship this year means 2008.
Actually the table still needs some work, but now all of the XP family carry the note that “mainstream support will end two years after the next version of this product is released.” The business versions (XP Professional and Tablet) also have the note that “extended support will end five years after mainstream support ends.” This is the standard policy for business software which has extended support (e.g. free security fixes) while home software does not.
