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mmm you sure you work in the IT industry? Most corporate environments are the worst when it comes to upgrading their operating system and office suite software. Many are still running Server 2000 and XP (or Windows 2000). Most IT managers cannot, and will not, justify upgrading to the latest and greatest.
Where does Microsoft make most of its money? The OEM market. That's where the vast majority of people will come from who've upgraded to the "latest and greatest". And given that, the hardware actually is generally well geared to run the latest Windows operating system too. There were a few anomalies with Windows Vista, and the US court system is dealing with that. Every business in existence will try and cut corners, it's the nature of being in business. Hoping not to get caught is something every business person has in common.
Microsoft does not target the Windows operating system at the average person who buys it off the shelf without a new computer. Sure, you can buy OEm disks, or retail packages, but they do not comprise the majority of Microsoft's sales.
I'll tell you a little story. Back in the days, I bought a copy of Windows 95B OEM on CD (I had purchased the full install version of Windows 95A on 13 floppy disks and it was a pain). I purchased it from a local computer fair. I didn't open it for a 3 and a bit weeks, and then I noticed that it had 2 "how and why" disks (basically info disks on what was new in Windows 95). I took it back at the next computer fair, with my receipt. Said vendor accused me of stealing and trying to pull a swifty and wouldn't listen. No refund, no swap, my problem. Now, I was in a pickle, since it was an OEM version, Microsoft wouldn't support it. Well, that was the technical problem After six weeks of arguing with the vendor, who got quite rude I might add, I took it up with Microsoft. Said vendor had sold the OEM package without hardware, which is breaking their OEM contract. Microsoft decided to become involved and I had to meet up with some of their lawyers. Said Vendor had his OEM contract torn up. I got compensated, even though Microsoft wasn't obliged to do so. I ended up getting a full retail version of Windows NT 4 workstation - triple the cost of what I'd bought! Nice customer support Microsoft.
Now...after dinner, I'll reveal my Linux retail support nightmare...
Dave
dinner is in the oven and will get burnt if I don't go up now...
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