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The press keeps on telling us that Windows 98 will sell less copies than Windows 95, at least in the early part of the release. Quotes like "people won't go out in droves at midnight to buy it" show the typical opinion of the press on this subject.
Well, at least for the moment, the critics are wrong. On the day of the launch, customers lined up after all. The midnight madness was fueled with offers like 98 cent computers and CD-ROM drives.
Now, after four days, research firm PC Data has released its results on sales of Windows 98. According to the research firm, Windows 98 has sold 510,000 copies during its first four days, which is "dead even with Windows 95."
Also, PC Data said that 40 percent of the buyers who bought Windows 95 also picked up the Microsoft Plus! 98 package of utilities and add-ons, which is up from the 30 percent that bough Plus! for Windows 95 with Windows 95.
The results represent 80 percent of the market.
Granted, Windows 98 is competing in a market 50 percent bigger than the market Windows 95 had. Still, the results are fairly impressive, especially when taking into consideration the lukewarm welcome from the trade press.
Another reason why Windows 98 might be selling well is because of the fact that Windows 98 should run well many computers with Windows 95 hardware requirements. There are less customers needing memory upgrades to buy Windows 98.
The pending U.S. v. Microsoft case might also have had an impact on the sales. PC Data President told Reuters, "Microsoft can thank Joel Klien for doing their advertising." Klien, the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust chief and assistant attorney general, constantly said that Microsoft was illegally integrating Internet functions into Windows 98.
The Windows 98 data is a welcome story for the computer industry. Hardware and software alike were in a slowdown for the last two months. Now, with Windows 98's launch, the computer industry might have gotten a sales boost just when it needed to. Hardware vendors are expecting a boost in sales from the increased hardware support in Windows 98, and software developers are hoping people will pick up the "Designed for Windows 98" programs that are coming out.
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