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Would HEXUS users pay to upgrade from Vista to XP?

by Parm Mann on 21 December 2007, 12:39

Tags: Windows Vista, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qakur

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The votes are in...

Right now, 1,031 users have taken part in the recent HEXUS poll and it's time to take a look at the results. Having started a little over a week ago, the poll asked "A year after launch - How much would you pay to Upgrade from Vista to XP?" and provided the following answers to choose from:

  • Nothing - Vista Rocks!
  • £25 Vista ain't that bad...
  • £50 UAC is driving me insane....
  • £100 - Get me off Vista now!
  • I'm not silly enough to have run it first time round...

At present, the 1,031 votes make for some interesting reading and here's a simple little pie chart to show you how our readers feel about Windows Vista:

HEXUS poll results

The largest piece of the pie tells quite the story, 52% of all voters claim themselves not silly enough to run Windows Vista, while a further 17% would actually pay between £25 and £100 to go back to Windows XP. All is not lost for Microsoft however as 31% do indeed declare that Vista rocks. Quite worryingly, 7% of our users are so disgruntled by Windows Vista, they'd be willing to pay £100 to make "the WoW stop now".

With just over one thousand votes and rising, this small sample isn't quite conclusive in terms of the millions of Vista users. The fact that the majority of HEXUS readers are young males working in IT however definitely tells us something about Vista's current appeal, or lack of rather.

HEXUS Forums :: 30 Comments

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Posted by Silent Shark - Fri 21 Dec 2007 13:30
You need to change the headline, it's misleading.

You do not show that “HEXUS users would pay to upgrade from Vista to XP”, you show that most don't care, and then those that have Vista, most are happy.

Changing the title to a question by moving the ‘would’ to the beginning, or prefixing the whole thing with ‘Some’ would work fine.
Posted by Splash - Fri 21 Dec 2007 14:53
I have to agree - 52% state that they haven't used it (or that's my interpretation) so as far as I'm concerned aren't really in a position to comment other than based on the FUD that's doing the rounds. 64.6% of the remaining poll sample state that they're happy (Vista Rocks), a further 16.7% claim that they're generally satisifed (Vista ain't that bad), 6.25% are annoyed at UAC (which I'd argue is something that Windows has needed for a long time if it's to shake it's shoddy “everything as superuser” security model) and a further 16.7% are statiing that they'd prefer another OS. That's as tabloid a headline as I'd expect on Daily Mail Island, and really not the kind of journalistic work I expect of Hexus.
Posted by kalniel - Fri 21 Dec 2007 15:02
True. A more accurate headline would be ‘A minority of Hexus users would pay to upgrade from Vista to XP’.. looks different doesn't it? :p
Posted by Dorza - Fri 21 Dec 2007 15:16
Splash
I have to agree - 52% state that they haven't used it (or that's my interpretation) so as far as I'm concerned aren't really in a position to comment other than based on the FUD that's doing the rounds. 64.6% of the remaining poll sample state that they're happy (Vista Rocks), a further 16.7% claim that they're generally satisifed (Vista ain't that bad), 6.25% are annoyed at UAC (which I'd argue is something that Windows has needed for a long time if it's to shake it's shoddy “everything as superuser” security model) and a further 16.7% are statiing that they'd prefer another OS. That's as tabloid a headline as I'd expect on Daily Mail Island, and really not the kind of journalistic work I expect of Hexus.

Don't want to put a downer on it, but I, also have highlight the fact that all but one of the answers are negatives….

* Nothing - Vista Rocks! - Positive
* £25 Vista ain't that bad… - The question is neutral, but given that you would still like to be paid to get rid of it, then it has to be a negative response
* £50 UAC is driving me insane…. - Negative
* £100 - Get me off Vista now! - Negative
* I'm not silly enough to have run it first time round… - Negative.

The way I look at it the overall poll is biased against Vista. Of the possible 5 answers, 2 should be positive, 1 should be neutral and 2 should be negative, not 4 negative, 1 positive - its skewed.
Posted by Parm - Fri 21 Dec 2007 15:20
oooh, tasty feedback! Thanks :)

I do agree Silent Shark, in hindsight the title was misleading and has been altered.

As Splash has highlighted, the current poll results can be interpreted in a number of ways. I wouldn't personally look at the numbers quite as Splash has done so. I see it as 52% wouldn't go near Vista, 31% really like it, 17% can't stand it.

With those figures in mind, they can be looked at in all sorts of ways.

I personally voted in the “Vista rocks” category and use Vista on both my desktop and laptop. I just found it interesting that the poll highlighted how many users on a tech site don't want to use Vista and though it was a smaller percentage, I found it interesting that nearly 200 people would pay to lose Vista.

*update* Dorza, I didn't set the poll options originally so can't comment on that. The answers could have provided better options, but I still found the results interesting to follow.

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