London: Ahead of the launch of its new
operating system Windows 7, Microsoft chief executive Steve
Ballmer has said that the company's reputation never recovered
from the poor performance of Vista.
Ballmer said Microsoft's reputation took a beating after
the release of Vista in 2007, an operating system which caused
computers to hang indefinitely, among many other technical
glitches.
"We got some uneven reception when (Vista) first launched
in large part because we made some design decisions to improve
security at the expense of compatibility. I don't think from a
word-of-mouth perspective we ever recovered from that,"
Ballmer was qouted by the Daily Telegarph.
He said there is "pent up demand" for new equipment,
tacitly accepting that Vista did not sell well.
"I'd be hopeful that we see a bit more rapid pick-up -
particularly people who are upgrading the software without
touching the hardware - than maybe we have in years past."
With Microsoft launching its latest operating system
Windows 7 on October 22, Ballmer said the economic slowdown
has hit sales of PCs which will in turn impact its sale.
Microsoft is likely to buy around 15 companies this year,
in line with previous years, Ballmer told the newspaper.
Asked whether Microsoft would buy Twitter, he said the
micro-blogging site does not "want to be bought".
"You'll continue to see us work hard and invest in the
marketing and the like, and of course we're trying to get the
Yahoo deal through regulatory," he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2009, 13:48