Financial Research Firm: Longhorn Could Slow PC Buying -- Redmondmag.com

Financial Research Firm: Longhorn Could Slow PC Buying

By Scott Bekker
08/18/2004

Hefty system requirements for Windows "Longhorn" could create a drag on PC buying in 2006, a financial research firm warned.

"We are now assuming 7.7 percent PC unit growth in fiscal 2005 and 6.8 percent in fiscal 2006. We believe there is some risk that PC sales will slow down materially in calendar 2006 in front of Longhorn that we are now modeling as a 2007 event," according to an outlook from Credit Suisse First Boston quoted on Forbes.com Wednesday. "We fear that heavy hardware requirements for Longhorn will discourage buying."

CSFB predicts that PC unit growth will slow to the high single digits beginning in the current quarter due to the slowdown of the current replacement cycle.

Microsoft has not talked much about hardware requirements for Longhorn. The company has said that Longhorn’s major themes are strengthening operating system fundamentals, overhauling the presentation layer, building in enhancements to the file system and embracing Web services in internal and external communications.

With so little market share left to grab in the PC market, Microsoft is heavily dependent on PC growth rates to sustain its revenue and earnings growth. CSFB maintains a "neutral" rating on Microsoft's stock.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

Featured

To Support AI Workloads, Microsoft Taps Lumen for Network Boost

With AI workloads demanding more from its datacenters, Microsoft is looking to outside partners for infrastructure support.
Which Enterprises Should Ditch Passwords? All of Them!

As security biometrics continue to sophisticate, many organizations are still using flawed passwords to safeguard their data. That needs to change. Now.
CrowdStrike Blames Internal Testing Faults for Mass Outage

In an initial post-mortem, Austin-based security firm CrowdStrike said that an issue in its testing software led to the company pushing through a faulty update that took down more than 8.5 million Windows systems last week.
Build Your Own Custom Copilot, Part 2: Making the Connection

Now that you have a plan, it's time to create your personalized Copilot.
Microsoft Releases CrowdStrike Outage Recovery Tool

Microsoft has released a tool to help recover affected systems after last week's global outage caused by a faulty update pushed through by security firm CrowdStrike.