Look, I’m just gonna get this disclaimer out of the way now; if given the choice between a computer running Mac, Windows or Linux … I would be all over the Linux computer like granny in her Buick on a Florida sidewalk. So yes I do have a bit of bias here, however it is only restricted to the non-related issues not mentioned in my research.
With the growing consumer marketshare in everything that isn’t Microsoft, sometimes I feel bad for for the boys up in Redmond. Mozilla Firefox is out there offering a superior web browser along with their popular mail client Thunderbird for free, all the different flavors of Linux operating systems that are kicking XP square in the pants on so many things (also free), OpenOffice providing an intuitive and intelligent office productivity app (free as well); you just can’t help but to stand there and shake your head in sympathy.
But despite the Open Source flood that is snatching up market share left and right from this juggernaut, things are slowly looking brighter for them since the release of their long overdue operating system Vista. Everybody and their mom knew that Live.com and the built in system search features would be tightly integrated with each other. But now, we have a few months of real data to work with to see if this crass force-feeding is boosting usage for Live.com.
Timing Is Everything
For the sake of argument, Vista has been released two times to the public. First time was November 30th 2006 to the corporate crowd, second time being January 30th 2007. I bolded these dates because I want you to remember them as you look these graphs over;
First graph here is regarding Daily Reach according to Alexa.com. I circled the release date windows.
Conclusion: Corporate customers don’t care for Live.com as much as the home consumer does. The 2nd release shows a quick jump upwards in numbers due to a surge in sales for Vista.
Next graph gives you a look into Pageview numbers.
Conclusion: Again, same kind of scenario as previously, spikes on both graphs correlate & make sense. Notice how recently in the last 2-3 weeks their pageviews are going on a serious climb?
Now here’s where things get really interesting. So interesting that I even had to notate on the graph how puzzled I was when I saw it…
Conclusion: Either Alexa had a brain fart on this or we’re possibly seeing a surge in new Vista systems connecting to Live.com from within the OS itself instead of Internet Exploder Explorer 7. Vista’s built in Search does query Live.com for any of it’s online search needs if the user chooses it. Alexa has no way to track that.
Whatever has happened, it sure does look like the last month has been a good one for Live.com. Vista has pumped out 40 million units sold since the January release and shows no sign of slowing. Hand in hand they go, more Vista sales, more Live.com usage. I think the Microsoft Search Team owes the Vista Development team a beer or two.
