為什么Windows給微軟賺的錢越來越少了

Microsoft’s second quarter earnings report releasedMonday had a few bright spots, including rising salesin mobile devices and cloud services. Overall, thecompany’s sales were up 8% in the quarter endingDec. 31, though costs related to acquisitions andlayoffs meant profits were down 10.6% to $5.9billion.

上周，微軟發(fā)布了第二財季收益報告，其中出現(xiàn)了一些亮點，比如移動設(shè)備和云服務(wù)的銷售額不斷上升。雖然由于收購和裁員影響，微軟的利潤下滑了10.6%，降至59億美元，但該公司截至2014年12月31日的季度銷售額總體還是實現(xiàn)了8%的增長。

 

 

Despite the company’s good sales numbers, revenue from copies of its Windows operatingsystem installed on new computers, long a reliable source of cash, were down 13% year-over-year. Why?

盡管微軟銷售額漲勢喜人，新電腦安裝Windows操作系統(tǒng)所帶來的收入?yún)s同比下降了13%，要知道它一直是個可靠的收入來源。為什么會出現(xiàn)這種情況?

First, the consumer PC market has been either slipping or stagnant for years, meaning there’sfewer devices capable of running Microsoft’s PC operating system being sold.

首先，個人電腦市場近年來一直不景氣，也就是說，運行微軟操作系統(tǒng)的個人電腦銷量減少了。

But there’s another reason that’s far more under Microsoft’s control.

但還有另一個原因是微軟完全不能控制的。

Back at the end of 2013, Microsoft MSFT -9.25% was on the verge of ending technical supportfor Windows XP business customers. That convinced lots of IT and accounting departments itwas finally time to upgrade from the decade-plus-old operating system, driving sales ofMicrosoft’s newer OSes, like Windows 8.

到2013年年底，微軟就已經(jīng)基本不為Windows XP的商務(wù)用戶提供技術(shù)支持了。許多公司的IT部門和財務(wù)部門因此篤信，終于是時候升級這款已有十多年歷史的舊系統(tǒng)了，而這將提高微軟新系統(tǒng)如Windows 8的銷量。

However, that XP end-of-life phenomenon wasn’t around to drive sales last year, helpingexplain Windows’ poor year-over-year numbers. (Microsoft also said cheaper copies of Windowsit sold to academic buyers cut into the category’s revenue).

然而，XP的壽終正寢并未在去年拉動Windows系統(tǒng)的銷量，這就解釋了Windows年度同比銷量表現(xiàn)低迷的原因。(微軟還表示，出售給學(xué)術(shù)機構(gòu)的Windows系統(tǒng)售價較低，也影響了該類別的收入。)

It’s safe to expect Windows to be less of a moneymaker for Microsoft in the future. Last week,the company announced that its upcoming iteration of the operating system, Windows 10, willbe a free upgradefor users with older versions already installed. That’s a consumer-friendlymove that should help drive adoption rates, but it will eat even further into Windows’ revenuefigures. Still, if Microsoft continues to be successful in mobile and cloud services, that couldmore than make up for the free upgrade.

我們可以預(yù)計，Windows在未來可能不再是微軟的搖錢樹。該公司近期宣布，即將面世的下一代操作系統(tǒng)Windows 10將為舊版本的Windows用戶提供免費升級。這項舉措對消費者十分友好，應(yīng)該會提高該系統(tǒng)的采用率，但它會進(jìn)一步降低Windows的收入。不過，如果微軟能在移動和云服務(wù)上繼續(xù)高歌猛進(jìn)，由此產(chǎn)生的收入將足以彌補免費升級的損失。(財富中文網(wǎng))