The demand for naked computers in China is likely to remain high.
Microsoft sold more than 20 million legal copies of Windows Vista globally in just one month since the high-profile launch of Vista OS.
Compare that with China where just 244 licenses of Windows Vista were sold in the first two weeks through legal channels. The number was quoted by Windows Vista chief distributor in Bejing.
No, Chinese users aren't against Windows Vista, it's just that they prefer to save some money and buy pirated or fake Vista DVDs from the street vendors for $1.
That raises an important question - Should Microsoft continue to develop the Chinese versions of Vista, Office and other software ? Probably the bulk purchases by Government offices and corporates offsets the loses incurred through piracy.
Don't be surprised if Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Master Collection DVD also gets available on Chinese streets for the same price ($1).
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/04/windows-vista-sales-in-china-make.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
i saw a post on it, and it is much more expnsive than that.. how about 10 dlls? and a Vista Ultimate or Office Ultimate goes for 10 dlls too...
Written on 19/4/07 1:45 AM
wow thats insane.
The only way Microsoft can stop piracy is give free softwares. ;-)
Pawan
Written on 19/4/07 3:26 AM
Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be Microsoft's best long-term strategy. That's why Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs. "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not," Gates says. "Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price." Indeed, in China's back alleys, Linux often costs more than Windows because it requires more disks. And Microsoft's own prices have dropped so low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students. [...] Microsoft's China strategy is clearly paying off. More than 24 million PCs will be sold this year, adding to the 120 million already in place. Although the company's China revenues average no more than $7 for every PC in use (compared with $100 to $200 in developed countries), Gates says those figures will eventually converge.
Gates shed some light on his own hard-nosed business philosophy. "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."
That was in 1998.
Written on 12/7/07 3:35 PM