Jupiter: Businesses Not So Hot on Vista

By Geoff Duncan August 1, 2006

A new survey from Jupiter Research suggests businesses may not be too keen to upgrade their systems to Windows Vista when Microsoft releases to corporate users this November, instead sitting back and letting early adopters work out the kinks and problems before setting on an upgrade strategy of their own.

Jupiter polled 207 companies each with more than 100 employees; according to the results, roughly half either plan to wait at least 13 months before deploying Windows Vista, or don’t plan to deploy Windows Vista at all in their organizations. Surprised? Here’s another kicker: another 13 percent of businesses surveyed had never even heard of Windows Vista. Of respondents running Windows, 56 percent are running Windows 2000 on some of their computers, and 19 percent are running Windows NT 4.0 on some systems.

Microsoft hasn’t released a new version of Windows in about five years, following more than two years of delays in the release of Windows Vista. Microsoft (and many business analysts) have inferred from that gap that demand for Vista’s features will be enormous by the time Windows Vista becomes available; Jupiter’s survey seems to cast some doubt on those aspirations. Some respondents cite a lack of compelling features in Windows Vista; others plan to sit out the initial release of Windows Vista while other organizations work out the bugs and rough edges of the release.

Microsoft has estimated that both PC sales and Windows shipments will rise between 8 and 10 percent during the current fiscal year, in part because the company expects the release of Vista to drive some PC purchases.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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