Summary: How is Vista 7 doing against one billion licences of Fedora?

THE REALITY behind Vista 7 suggests that its sales are even worse than Vista's [1, 2]. Acer says that computer sales are hardly affected by the availability of Vista 7.

Several sources suggest that Microsoft uses discounts to miscount the number of Vista 7 "sales" (some are theoretical and are not even installations, just cheap/gratis allocations). Oiaohm, for instance, told us about Microsoft's tricks with numbers based on his own experience and now we find another person who tells a similar story:

Windows 7 itself even strengthens my opinion. Sure, it retails for up to $320, but Microsoft is actually giving a ridiculous number of copies away for no charge at all. During Microsoft’s “New Efficiency” campaign, they toured several states all over the USA giving away copies of Windows 7 Ultimate to all attendees. I can only imagine how many copies they’ve given away during the entire thing so far. Sure, this is not the first time Microsoft has given away Windows, but it’s certainly way more than normal.

Actual sales of Vista 7 are rather poor, but Microsoft insists on using words like "copies" or "licences", which get around the reality of the matter. Microsoft did exactly the same thing with Vista. Since Fedora is "licensed" for everyone to use, Red Hat could claim that it is "selling" a billion licences. Technically, that would be correct. ⬆

"If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft