Microsoft: 500 million will run Windows 8 in 2013

Microsoft

(ZDNET) Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicts that more than 500 million people will be using Windows 8 by the end of next year, AFP reports.

Ballmer, who was speaking at a forum in Seoul, South Korea, also expects Windows 7 to hit the 350 million device milestone later this year.

Windows 8 was described by Ballmer as the "deepest, broadest, and most impactful" operating system the company has made to date. He promised the "best economic opportunity" for hardware makers and Metro application developers who opt to support the upcoming operating system.

Corporate and enterprise demand have boosted Microsoft's sales of Windows 7, Bloomberg reports, following the more than half decade of Windows XP success - and inadvertently helped along by the sudden requirement to shift away from Windows Vista.

One of the reasons why Windows XP remains so popular is the reluctance to upgrade to Vista in the first place. With many legacy applications still running suitably well on the decade-old platform, there was no incentive to upgrade. Vista suffered with poor backwards compatibility and performance issues, which led to many upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as it was released.

Windows 7 shot ahead of Vista and became the fastest-selling operating system to date. According to Net Applications, Windows XP has a declining share of 46 percent, while Windows 7 has a rising share of more than 38 percent.

At the current trend, Windows 7 could overtake Windows XP in October - coincidentally the month slated for the forthcoming release of Windows 8.

Windows 8 will 'disappoint': Analysts cut price targets on HP, Dell
Microsoft faces Windows 8 trouble if it fails to ship in October

Windows 8 should be an interesting and testing time for Microsoft. While the upcoming operating system will run on PCs and tablets alike, the ultrabook market is still developing - in competition with Apple's MacBook Air - and will likely boost sales in the slimmer and more aesthetically attractive notebooks.

Gartner says more than 100 million tablets will be sold in 2012, with the figure tripling to more than 320 million tablets in 2015. The research firm estimates that Windows 8 will gain more than 12 percent of the tablet market, dwarfed by Apple's nearly 60 percent, with the iPad.

Last week, BMO analysts cut Hewlett-Packard and Dell's price targets, after one of its analysts claimed that "Windows 8 will prove to be a disappointment, at least out of the gate." Analysts do not think that Windows 8 will be as successful as Windows 7 was and continues to be, and that PC sales could suffer as a result.

Having said that, if Windows 7 continues to sell hot off the shelves and overtakes Windows XP in time for an October arrival, Windows 8 could push through the expected worst of it and prove analysts wrong.

This story originally appeared at ZDNet.

[bigmanfrommaine]

Microsoft hasn't written a decent OS since....EVER!

[barbaram99]

I am not going to move to Win 7 and I am not going to move to Win 8..I use Vista..Things run on Vista..Some of my XP software does not.I could not look at my camera manuals that are on XP record..Vista will not open it.
The thing being every time MS comes out wift a new OS there are sp needs things that will not work in the new OS. Not everyone can aford to replace things..If ye ask me I think XP was the best OS..the only reason I moved to Vista was I hated MS Sam ..I have Speaking Clock on the PC both home and portable..I can not use touch displays..

[pdegroot]

Mainly cheerleading by Ballmer, whose predictive record (missed search advertising, missed music players, missed phones, missed tablets, missed social networking, predicted great success for Vista) has a few stumbles, as owners of MS stock are sorely aware.
Gartner predicting 400M PC sales in 2013, so absolutely all will need to run Win8. But most businesses will probably replace Win8 on new PCs with Win 7.
Analysts:
Michael Silver, Gartner: Most organizations will move to Windows 7 and will skip Windows 8.
Keith Bachman, Analyst, BMO Capital Markets: Windows 8 will prove to be a disappointment, at least out of the gate.
Zach Whittaker, ZDNet: Windows 8 has become a "Franken-system" of mish-mashed ideas.
Paul Thurrott, WinSupersite: Windows 8 is...a tablet OS that's been grafted onto Windows like a monstrous Frankenstein experiment.

[groberts116]

The critics of Windows 8 are correct in they're dubious assesment of the OS. But, we are basing our judgement on the consumer preview, which is very likely incomplete. I can't help but feel there is more Microsoft has not presented. I'm waiting to see if anything follows before I decide whether or not to upgrade.

[dkunzman1]

wow.... someone is a wee bit of an optimist, Steve?