Intersuasive

 How not to listen to your audience:

Microsoft remains firm on its commitment to  discontinue the sale of XP after June 30th 2008. This despite the  fact that:

1. XP enjoys a 73% market share compared to Vista's measly 15%.
   

   

2. 92% of developers aren't writing applications for Vista. 49% are still writing them for XP.
3. 165,000 people have signed a petition to keep XP around. 
4. Over 4000 people have blogged (or commented on someone else' s blog) that Vista Sucks.
   

 Clearly the market wants to see XP triumph over Vista. Yet Microsoft is operating in a bubble, seemingly oblivious to this outpouring of love for an operating system that has been market tested and tweaked over the past 6 years, and with which most non-Microsoft products are optimized to work. 

As a result, Apple's consumer market share has grown by 60% in the last year to 14%, its developer adoption is up 380% , and Linux has gained greater visibility as as Redmond alternative. 

Now, while the footprint of Windows competitors is small in comparison to Microsoft's market domination, the gap is narrowing quickly.

Where have we seen this trend before? Hint: _ozill_ Fir_f_x

In our opinion, Microsoft is left with two options. Listen to its customer base and feed their passion, or face continued declines as its products become less and less relevant.

What do you think?