Microsoft Vista is failing to gain interest from business customers, it appears, despite what official sales figures maintain.
According to HP, most of the PCs it sells are actually running Windows XP, even though the sales are reported as sales of Vista-enabled devices.
What's behind this unusual statistic?
Demand, HP explains: "From 30 June, we have no longer been able to ship a PC with a XP license," said Jane Bradburn, market development manager, commercial notebooks for HP Australia.
"However, what we have been able to do with Microsoft is ship PCs with a Vista Business licence but with XP pre-loaded. That is still the majority of business computers we are selling today." Every sale of Vista is, in all actuality, a sale of XP.
Rob Kingston, group manager of commercial product marketing for HP explained: "Looking into the crystal ball, I don't think businesses will see much value in upgrading to Vista until late next year, and even so, Microsoft will probably have come out with something else by then."
HP's revelation casts doubt over Microsoft's claims about how many copies of Vista have been sold, as HP has made clear that although a sale may be counted as 'Vista', it may actually be XP, reports APC Magazine.
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