Now don’t panic. There’s a lot of context to be had here. I am, of course, going to start with the incendiary remarks, though. Steve Ballmer said last week that the Windows 7 launch may not be so different from Vista.

“The test feedback has been good, but the test feedback on Vista was good,” said Ballmer. “I am optimistic, but the proof will be in the pudding.” To be honest, I think the whole world is optimistic. Windows 7 is isn’t making the big leap like Vista did from XP. While plenty of things have been improved, not everything is completely different. The driver situation is pretty much under control (Nvidia has had drivers ready for months), which was one of Vista’s biggest setbacks. All things considered, I’m betting on a smooth launch.

Source: Bloomberg