HP sticks thumb in Microsoft's eye, discounts consumer Windows 7 PCs

This is not surprising to me. For starters, Windows 7is a really good operating system. It has a very solid base of Windows experience behind it, and the USER INTERFACE didn't change vs. XP which, by the way, has millions of loyal fans (me included). HP, Dell, and others are in the business of selling PCs, so it is not at all surprising that they are still marketing and discounting Windows 7 machines.

I saw this when, in December, I bought two new Dell laptops. The very machines I bought also came with Windows 7, but I opted for Windows 8. Of course, my motivation is different from many millions of others. I needed to learn Windows 8 so that I could support it in my customer base. I have done that - learned Windows 8. Yes, it is different, but I have come to like it a lot. The truth is I am not using a lot of the Windows 8 bells and whistles. Frankly, I do not like those, but it is very easy to take a Windows 8 machine and use it (and I might add, maintain it) much in the same way as a Windows 7 or Windows XP machine. I can understand why a layman would have a hard time with Windows 8, but Microsoft is a big and powerful machine and they will sell a lot of Windows 8 machines, and I will be (am) there to service those customers.

So here is what computerworld.com has to say about this in their article today:

"Hewlett-Packard today launched a new online promotion that discounts several consumer PCs by $150 when equipped with Windows 7, saying the four-year-old OS is "back by popular demand."

"The reality is that there are a lot of people who still want Windows 7," said Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research, in a Monday interview. "This is a twist, though, and may appeal to those who said, 'I do want a new PC, but I thought I couldn't get Windows 7.'"

HP has not discarded Windows 8.1 -- the perception-plagued dual-UI operating system -- nor resurrected Windows 7 from the crypt: The PC seller, like every other OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in Microsoft's orbit, has never stopped selling Windows 7.

But HP was the first major OEM -- it was the world's second-largest in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to research firm IDC -- to blatantly market Windows 7 PCs to consumers since Windows 8's first few months, said O'Donnell."

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