The Motley Fool’s Beyers: Everybody hates Microsoft’s Windows Vista

“Do computer users hate Windows Vista?” Tim Beyers asks for The Motley Fool.

“I’m asking because, well, analysts are asking. They’re wondering why Microsoft’s operating-systems division produced just $4.03 billion in first-quarter revenue, $300 million less than the consensus estimate, according to The New York Times,” Beyers reports.

“Gartner researchers might say it’s because businesses have been slow to adopt Vista. Mr. Softy, by contrast, says there is no problem, claiming to have sold 140 million copies of the OS,” Beyers reports. “Is the revolt against Vista real? Or is it hooey, as Microsoft asserts? Let’s turn to the web for the answer. A search for the phrase ‘I hate Vista’ brought back:”

• 5,620 hits at Ask.com
• 42,200 hits at Google
• 149,000 hits at Yahoo!
• And 26,800 hits at Microsoft’s own Live.com.

Beyers writes, “There you have it. Some users hate Vista. Very, very much.”

Beyers reports, “But it gets worse. Searching Google for ‘I hate Windows’ returns 60,800 hits…. ‘I hate Mac OS X’ returns a measly 585 hits.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe Architect” for the heads up.]

59 Comments

  1. Dumb search criteria. Absolutely valueless. By default Google does not search the “I” as it is too prevalent. “I hate vista” will return any sites who include the word hate + vista whether they are used in conjunction with each other or not, or even if they are reversed. The phrase “I *hate* my car but I love *vista*” would be returned as a hit.

  2. of course, we can put it in quotes…

    “hate vista” = 107k
    “vista sucks” = 269k
    “hate OSX” = 1730
    “OSX sucks” = 2500

    so, we are roughly at 100:1

    I think “vista problems” would be interesting to try also…

    “vista problems” = 179k
    “OSX problems” = 5030

    All I can say is that it is becoming easier and easier to convert folks these days. I dunno if the frustration level is growing, or the interest level, or perhaps both. By the end of 2008, I imagine all my friends will be on Macs – as it should be.

  3. I downgraded vista: 2,110,000
    I downgraded leopard: 537,000

    there you go.

    But on the other hand, comparing installed base…
    But then again, maybe Mac users are better when it comes to documenting stuff and supporting others online.

  4. I think you can pretty much count on Speed Racer sucking muchly. If they ever go after Miyazaki or Kon I’ll spew. Get a clue, Hollywood. Oh, and down with Microsoft! Down with that sort of thing!

  5. @ Brau

    You do need to put things in quotes. “hate vista” is much different than if you were to simply type in the two words in Google.

    This is one dumb story that I actually found interesting. I never thought of using the number of search results to gage interest. It’s not without merit.

  6. Your wild search result claims are likely invalid…

    Take a second to look at the actual results of some of the searches documented above. Many of them returned zero hits.

    For instance:
    Asmodeus says the search phrase “vista is a pile of goat feces”. returned 45,600 hits.

    Pay attention to the line that says “Results 1 – 10 of about xxx for: “Vista is a pile of goat feces” – only the words in blue were used to execute your search. The very first ‘search result’ actually says: No results found for “vista is a pile of goat feces”.

    Side out, this side rotate.

  7. I think all 20+ million of us Mac users should sign the XP petition, just to keep the dark side guessing ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

  8. @Truth

    Hey pumpkin, did you have a bad night? Maybe you should work on the attitude, things may go better for you. Then again, anyone using the handle “Truth” likely has an ego so big no one can stand to be around them.

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