Windows 7 Made Available for Holiday Sales

Over the past year or so, most of the news involving Microsoft has been about the newly released Windows 8. Since they announced they were launching a new version of their popular operating system, Microsoft had been providing regular updates regarding its progress. The hype surrounding the release had reached deafening levels. In the end, it proved to be anti-climactic for the tech giant as the sales and adoption rate among users were lower than expected.

Keeping that in mind, one would expect Microsoft would try everything in its power to boost the sales of Windows 8. The celebrity ads, promotional campaigns and free goodies have done their bit. With the end of year shareholders’ conference round the corner, Microsoft needs to rectify the situation or else they could have to answer some stinging question. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case with a recent annoucement made by the company.

Windows 7 Available During Holidays

The company has officially announced that it is going to continue selling new devices and PCs running the previous generation operating system, Windows 7. This has come as mildly shocking to some market experts who were expecting Microsoft to capitalize on the strong holiday sales to give Windows 8 a boost. Far from quelling any doubts about the popularity of the new OS, Microsoft has thrown another nugget for critics to latch onto.

Variety of Devices is the Key Factor

The main reason which can be considered for Microsoft’s decision is that the two operating systems function better on different devices. As they have claimed time and time again, the Windows 8 has been geared specifically for touch screen devices. While it works fine on PCs and laptops, the user interest in handheld devices has grown over the past few years. On the other hand, Microsoft reckons the option Windows 7 offers on PCs is unmatched.

Hence, the company has decided to keep the Windows 7 devices and PCs on the shelves throughout the holiday season. One has to consider the fact that sales of either operating system would benefit the company itself. Microsoft won’t mind strong sales and revenues during the last month of the year even if most of it comes from Windows 7 devices.

The bottom-line is that Microsoft doesn’t view Windows 7 as direct competition for its new operating system. That is the only plausible explanation for their latest decision.

[Image via windows7helpdesk]