Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows Vista, made available to businesses in November 2006 and to the general public in January 2007 is nothing more than a huge disappointment. At least this is the perspective of Gianfranco Lanci, President of Acer. Lanci is the head of the world's fourth largest computer manufacturer. With an annual revenue of over $11.3 billion, Acer is topped only by Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo. From the point of view of the Taiwan-based PC manufacturer, Windows Vista should have driven computer sales, and in this sense the operating system disappointed not only Acer but the entire industry.

At the end of the first 100 days of availability, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced that Windows Vista shipped in excess of 40 million licenses worldwide. Selling at more than double the rate that Windows XP did, Vista is nothing short of a success for Microsoft; however, both analysts and computer makers confirmed the fact that Vista shipments are for the most part limited to the retail channel, and that the operating systems is failing to push the adoption of new computers.

"The entire industry is disappointed by Windows Vista. And that's not going to change in the second half of this year. I really don't think that someone has bought a new PC specifically for Vista. Stability is certainly a problem," Lanci commented for the Financial Times Deutschland as cited by Physorg, adding that Vista has done little to boost computer sales.

Analyst firm Gartner confirmed at the end of June the fact that Windows Vista only superficially impacted PC sales. "The release of Microsoft Windows Vista operating system at the end of January has, so far, failed to stimulate the market in the way many hoped," said George Shiffler, research director for Gartner's Client Platforms Markets Group. "Our market data suggest Vista has had very limited impact on PC demand or replacement activity. We don't see Vista having a significant effect on these going forward unless Microsoft becomes much more aggressive in its marketing efforts."

But Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft, came with a different position. One in which Vista and Office 2007 are indeed helping the computer industry. "Microsoft Vista and Office shipping 40 million new PCs in the marketplace. Think about that, 40 million new PCs in the marketplace since we launched the product, and we're just at the beginning of the wave. The impact that we've had since we announced Silverlight, and launched Microsoft Expression, in terms of making impact in the Web environment. Thank you for making this a great year," Watson said at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 at the beginning of July.