Microsoft Sends Mixed Messages On Consumption

While on the one hand Microsoft is pushing consumers and businesses to trade in functioning PCs for shiny new devices running Windows 7, on the other the computer giant is characterising the boom years that preceded the current recession as unsustainable and unrealistic.

In a statement released this week, designed to push the efficiency and productivity gains that partners such as hardware maker Dell are apparently realising from moving to Windows 7, Microsoft referred to the unsustainable way the economy and consumer consumption has grown over recent years.

“After years of economic expansion fueled by unrealistic rates of consumption and unsustainable levels of private debt, the global economy has reset at a lower baseline level of activity. Today, people borrow less, save more and spend with much greater caution,” the company said.

However, while Microsoft appears to be critical of “unrealistic rates of consumption”, the company is keen to push businesses and consumers into upgrading functional machines running Windows XP for new PCs running its recently released Windows 7 operating system.

At the launch of Windows 7 in London last week, Microsoft announced a partnership with electronics retailer DSGi which sees the PC World operator selling Windows 7 with the incentive of a £100 laptop trade-in to encourage users to buy a new laptop at the same time. DSGi is offering users up to £100 if they bring an old laptop to the shop, although the actual figure will depend on the quality and viability of the laptop.

But while Microsoft and others are keen to focus on energy and financial savings, that can come with improved power management for desktops with systems such as Windows 7, some environmental IT experts claim that energy efficiency is only part of the story when it comes to sustainable technology.

According to a 2003 academic study, Computers and the Environment: Understanding and Managing Their Impacts, 75 percent of the environmental harm caused by PC use occurs in the extraction and manufacture phases of the life-cycle, before a PC is used for the first time. The UK government is also pushing public sector departments to hang onto kit longer and “sweat assets”.

Microsoft has made it clear that taking advantage of the new features of Windows 7 will mean new hardware for most Windows XP users. There is no direct upgrade option from XP – an issue flagged up in reviews of Windows 7. Microsoft spokespeople explained that XP machines will generally be too old to get the full benefit of the new system, and support for an upgrade would be impossible across the board.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has also stated that he expects around 300 million PCs to be sold worldwide off the back of the Windows 7 launch but it is not clear whether this is an example of “unrealistic rates of consumption” on the part of consumers and business.

In the same statement that discusses the “unsustainable” growth over recent years, Microsoft also referred to an apparent plan by computer maker Dell to upgrade 100,000 PCs used internally to Windows 7 in an effort to cut management costs. According to the statement, Dell expects a 25 percent reduction in support costs, better data and network protection, and better performance and support for portable devices.

“Dell has been an early beta customer of Windows 7 and has hundreds of internal pilot deployments. We expect to move to a broader rollout now that the code has been officially released,” said Takis Petropoulos, global IT manager, Systems Management and User-Centric Solutions at Dell.

Sanjay Ravi, Microsoft’s worldwide managing directorof high tech and electronics, added that Windows 7 offered a way for companies to improve productivity and efficiency. “Today’s economic storm is severely testing high-tech and electronics companies as well as other manufacturers worldwide,” he said. “High-tech companies must achieve greater operational efficiencies, using IT to drive down costs while driving up global work-force productivity and increasing cash flow.”