Microsoft expects high-rate migration to new Windows

CEBU, Philippines - Microsoft Southern Philippines is expecting high migration to its newest operation system (OS) Windows 7, as the Visayas and Mindanao market showed high interest in taking advantage of this latest software application.

Microsoft Southern Philippines territory manager George Parilla said that while the market is now becoming more technologically savvy, especially in terms of adopting the most updated software application to Personal Computer (PC), Windows 7 introduction has hit the growing computer users around the world.

Two years after it launched VISTA, Microsoft now offers an enhanced OS application armed with programs specifically designed to fit today’s technology and the latest gadgets in the market.

Microsoft spends over US$6 billion for its Research and Development (R&D), aside from introducing enhanced software products, protection from counterfeit is heavily developed in every new software introduced in the market.

In Cebu, Windows 7 will be formally launched on November 21 at the SM City Cebu’s Northwing Cyberzone.

Parilla claimed that even before the formal launching of the product, people are already looking for it. In fact, almost all of the over 200 Microsoft partners and authorized vendors in the Visayas and Mindanao are already offering Windows 7 as early as this month.

Aside from its competitive price in licensing, Windows 7 promises to work faster in PCs, easy to use and much more user friendly, with multi-tasking applications.

Based on the recent survey released by industry watchers Forrester, there are out of 10 new PCs run Windows XP, nearly eight years after the operating system was first released.

By next year, the survey forecasted that the figure could drop by more than half.

"Today, Windows XP is installed on four out of five new PCs. When we asked IT professionals to forecast their anticipated new PC deployments within 12 months from now, we discovered that Windows 7 will already be the primary OS deployed, with Windows Vista shrinking from 15 percent to 10 per cent and Windows XP shrinking from 81 per cent to 34 per cent," Forrester's report said.

The research, which surveyed North American and European SMEs and enterprises, found that the majority of businesses using Windows XP plan to migrate straight to Windows 7 and without migrating to Vista first.

Of the companies polled, 61 percent said they'll jump from XP to Windows 7, while just seven percent said they plan to make a stop at Vista on the way.

The survey believes that Windows 7 helps PC users more easily manage files and it starts and shuts computer faster. It eliminates many of the annoyances that bothered Vista users.

The cost cutting feature emphasized by the introduction of Windows 7 is also expected to boost shares by increasing operating margins.

Microsoft's profit margins have been declining over the past seven years as the company entered expensive new businesses such as Internet search and video games.