Apple a Vista OEM?
Published on 4 Dec 2007 at 2:47 am.
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Filed under rant, vista.
Let me just start by answering the question — no, Apple is not a Vista OEM. To see Paul Thurrott tell it you may very come to the conclusion that they are. I’ve seen him dig down the source of a story to see how facts get twisted and now I’m going to give him the same treatment.
On November 26, 2007 Visitmix.com posts an article titled “Our Newest Vista OEM: Apple,” in which they claim that “10% of all new Vista licenses are sold to Macintosh owners.” Their source for that figure is an article published by Microsoft-watch.com titled “Microsoft’s Big Mac Sales.”
However the Microsoft-watch article says something quite different than the Visitmix.com article. Not only is the word OEM never used, it says that “Ten percent of Vista Business and Business Ulitmate [sic] SKUs go to Mac users” … “he referred to US retail sales.” If I had to pick one word to be the opposite of “OEM” it would be “retail.”
How one jumps from two specific retail SKUs (remember, Vista has eight retail SKUs including upgrades) to “all new Vista licenses,” then claims Apple is a Vista OEM is beyond me.
But back to Thurrott… he apparently links to this story without checking the facts, then adds to it by saying that “Microsoft is finally responding, sort of, to those silly Apple ‘I’m a PC’ ads…” I highly doubt Microsoft’s response to Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads would be “Mac owners make up 10% of our sales.”
He wonders why the story isn’t getting more coverage. I can tell him why — it’s complete bullshit.
