The lost generation of computers and Microsoft’s new opportunity

From March 13 Google will cease supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6. This presents a great opportunity for Microsoft to grab the lost generation of computer users.

The lost generation are the computer users who’ve skipped the last few five year cycles of computer upgrades. There’s two reasons for this; Windows Vista’s well deserved poor reputation and the concept of Good Enough Computing.

While Vista has a lot to answer for, good enough computing iss the main villain — for most household and business users, a Pentium IV running Windows 98 or XP with Internet Explorer 6 was good enough for their daily computer needs.

So Google’s move to abandon older browsers is going to force many of that lost generation to upgrade. This means those running computers more than six years old will probably be looking at new systems rather than the expense and compromises of upgrading.

A year ago, the smart money would have been on many of those new machines being netbooks running Linux with a good proportion of Apple Macs, however Microsoft’s release of Windows 7 has turned the tables and it’s fairly safe to say most upgraders will be sticking with Windows.

Which is a great opportunity for Microsoft to claw back market share and revenue although this doesn’t come without its challenges.

Microsoft’s challenge lies in convincing buyers to upgrade their other software. Many of these people will baulk at spending several hundred dollars on new office, photo editing or entertainment software and given much of it is available as cloud based systems the asking price will be steep.

For home and business computer owners the next month will be the time to consider if your older computers are due for an upgrade. If you find they stop doing the things you want or are are slow and unreliable then it might be time to consider your upgrade options.

Similar posts:

• No Related Posts