Redmond is still talking ‘billion’ and showing their own ‘statistics’ as false.
During the launch of Windows 8 it was interesting to hear mention of ‘over a billion people using Windows‘. That’s interesting because only a few months ago Microsoft was assuring us there were a billion Microsoft Office users – an improbable number that Redmond could not explain.
Microsoft talks about ‘users’ not computers. That allows the company to inflate the number by assuming multiple users for a single computer while overlooking those of us with more than one computer. Even allowing for all of that, a billion users seems a stretch since it means one in seven people use Windows across the entire globe.
As we explained before – most people in the world barely scrape by let alone buy a computer with Windows.
It also means that the earlier claim of a billion Office users is even more improbable. If there’s just over a billion Windows users then how can you claim a similar value for Office? Unless you assume an unreasonably high percentage using both.
A more likely explanation is that Microsoft promotions has decided that ‘billion’ is a great number and started using it in speeches knowing that most people will accept it blindly.
Both Windows and Office are incredibly popular – so why not give out honest, verifiable numbers instead of unnecessary exaggeration? I’m afraid, Microsoft just can’t help itself.
