The recent outcry from fans of Windows XP -- or at least from people who hate Vista so badly they don't want to buy it -- appears to have reached the ears of Steve Ballmer. The Microsoft CEO said the company would listen to its customers if they want to continue to buy XP.
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Speaking at Louvain-La-Neuve University in Belgium, Ballmer also said it's a "statistical truth" that most people who buy PCs today buy them with Vista.
Some customers have complained that they must buy PCs pre-loaded with XP as small businesses and can't get them at retail stores.
Several PC vendors, including Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) , either offer customers PCs pre-loaded with XP or offer customers the option to downgrade to XP Pro.
Meanwhile, Vista's bad rep is growing -- internal Microsoft e-mails that were released during a lawsuit against Microsoft and its resellers show top Microsoft executives had problems with the operating system.
Can You Hear Me Now?
To date, almost 165,000 people have signed an online petition launched by InfoWorld Executive Editor Galen Gruman to save Windows XP.
Isn't that enough? Does Microsoft want to see users grovel?
That's all just smoke and mirrors: "I think Microsoft will keep XP alive because they've got sufficient feedback from the corporate environment, and that's a critical part of the market," Jim McGregor, research director and principal analyst at In-Stat, told TechNewsWorld. "They're not stupid."
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
It might be a statistical truth that Vista is on most PCs sold today -- but exactly what does that statement mean? If you have no option because every PC is pre-loaded with Vista, the cynic might consider that a stacking of the deck.
