Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmerhas
ruled out reviewing its user licences, despite acknowledging the
fine print and complexity can cause headaches for
customers.
Taking questions at a customer event to promote
the launch of
Windows 7, Steve Ballmer was quizzed on whether of the vendor
would
simplify its licensing processes.
"I don't anticipate a big round of simplifying licences. The
last round of simplification was done six years ago and a lot of
clauses and fine print is there to help customers reduce costs," he
said.
"Any simplification needs to be done to provide things the
customers want us to do, not for the purity of simplification. Last
time we fixed that we made things simpler and had satisfaction
numbers plummet for two years," he said.
In a bullish presentation,
Ballmer
said the supplier was working hard to ensure
the launch of Windows 7 was
more successful than
Vista.
"My hope is that in the first three to six months [after launch
on
22 October] any new PC you buy will come with Windows 7. It
would be a shame to see people acquire Windows XP machines in
2010," he said.