14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is getting ready to fire its Windows Vista Service Pack 1 heavy guns, and the first question that comes to mind is what will be the impact delivered to direct rivals Linux and Mac OS X? Vista SP1 heavy guns are nothing more than a combination of the service pack itself along with the price discounts announced by Microsoft. Focused on Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions of the operating system, the price reductions come to complement Vista SP1 and have not been chosen randomly.
According to IDC, over 75% of the PCs aimed at the consumer segment have shipped with the Home Premium SKU. The rest is split largely between Windows Vista Home Basic, for the systems that cannot meet the hardware requirements for the high-end editions of the platform, and by the Ultimate SKU. As early as the end of this week, but no later that the next, with all indications pointing to March 18, Microsoft will release Vista SP1 to the general public via Microsoft Update, Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center. In mid-March, Vista SP1 will hit the retail shelves and will begin to appear preloaded on OEM machines.
It is clear that Vista SP1 in combination with the price cuts will offer an excellent opportunity for the latest Windows client to grab even more share and leave direct rivals Linux and Mac OS X even further behind. At MIX08, when Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer was asked about the Redmond company's face-off with Google, he acknowledged Linux as an alternative to Windows.
"You have to ask where do we really compete. In our desktop business today, we don't see Google. We see Apple, we see Linux, we don't see Google. We have a server and enterprise business. We see IBM, we see Oracle, we see Linux, Google, you know, blip-blip-blip-blip. If that's a PR answer you let me know, but blip-blip-blip-blip," Ballmer said, even though Linux has a very small portion of the operating system market.
But Microsoft doesn't really need Windows Vista SP1 to hurt Linux. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Wal-Mart announced that it would put an end to the test run in its stores by offering Linux-based computers. Wal-Mart Stores spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien revealed that Linux machines were not what customers had been looking for, this even though they were less expensive than the computers preloaded with Windows.
In the past years, Mac computer sales have been exploding, with Apple shipping in excess of 2 million units per quarter. But Vista SP1 could very well mean that some of the focus of consumers looking for a new machine could shift away from Macs and back to PCs.
"Look, Apple does a pretty good job. I'm not going to take anything away from what Apple does. We also do a pretty good job, and we're going to drive hard. Apple has taken a little bit of share, we drive share. At the end of the day, of course, we have a much bigger footprint than Apple does, certainly in the PC business," Ballmer added.