Harry Potter takes on Voldemort, but can’t beat Windows 7

22 Oct 2009

Windows 7 has overtaken Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to become the biggest pre-ordered item of all time in the UK, according to Amazon.

“The launch of Windows 7 has superseded everyone’s expectations, storming ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the biggest-grossing pre-order product of all-time at Amazon.co.uk, and demand is still going strong,” said Amazon.co.uk’s managing director Brian McBride.

According to Amazon, Windows 7 – which goes on sale today – sold more copies in the first eight hours of its release in July than Vista did during its entire pre-order period.

McBride said that in the last three months only one product – Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol – sold more copies than Windows 7. “An incredible achievement for a software product.”

Many computer stores opened their doors at midnight to give punters their copies of the new operating system (OS) and 90pc of the world’s computer manufacturers will release their first machines with the new OS from today.

As a successor to the widely unpopular Windows Vista, Windows 7 is Microsoft’s effort to win back the end users, returning to the simplicity of XP with a streamlined interface and reduced power requirements, meaning longer-lasting notebooks and keeping the technical stuff under the bonnet.

By John Kennedy

Don’t miss Seven Cool Things About Windows 7 and learn how Windows 7 Ushers in a new era of Security and Reliability.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com