Of course overcharging us brits will make these things happen ...
Microsoft is forecasting the launch of Windows XP will generate £13.2 billion in IT sales across the UK in the year following its launch.
The figure includes software upgrades, new PCs, and other bits of kit like printers, memory, scanners, CD-Rs, digital cameras, and the rest.
Microsoft's UK group marketing manager Nick McGrath used the figure to fire up members of the Personal Computer Association at their annual conference.
He came armed with gung ho high expectation data culled from various market research organisations. It went like this: There is an installed base of 24.7 million PCs in the UK. Of these, 7.4 million of them are capable of being upgraded to run Win XP.
Of these 7.4 million, 2.5 million are in the home, and 4.9 million are used by businesses. If all these machines got an upgrade, and paid full price for it (£89.99 for the home version, £169.99 for the professional edition) then this would generate revenues of £1.058 billion.
News source: theregister.co.uk
