Businesses focus on Windows 7, XP over Vista
Summary
Research from the Corporate IT Forum indicates more UK companies are using or investigating XP and Windows 7 than Vista
Topics
Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is still playing second fiddle to XP among business users, with more enterprises investigating the unreleased Windows 7 than its predecessor.
More than half (58 percent) of businesses using Microsoft technology are "exploiting" Windows XP, compared to just four percent for Vista, according to research by the Corporate IT Forum (Tif).
Tif also found that 35 percent of organizations described themselves as "not yet interested" in Vista.
The operating system (OS) that most people appear to be developing or piloting is XP, with 12 percent of businesses saying they were doing so, compared to five percent for Vista.
More businesses (30 percent) said they're currently investigating or analyzing Microsoft's next scheduled OS, Windows 7, than Vista (14 percent).
In contrast, seven percent of businesses said they're still exploiting Windows 2000, although 19 percent said they are currently replacing or "sunsetting" it.
In April, research revealed that Vista uptake among businesses had been slow during 2007, although a quarter of businesses said they planned to upgrade in 2008.
The main reason given by Tif members for not moving to Vista was a lack of business requirement for doing so.
Microsoft's latest browser, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is undergoing a similar struggle for adoption, with a fifth of respondents saying they're not yet interested in the newer version of the app.
Almost two-thirds of businesses surveyed (65 percent) said they are exploiting IE6, compared to four percent for IE7. However, 14 percent said they are currently piloting IE7, with the same proportion using it in isolation.
Almost a quarter (23 percent) said they are analyzing and investigating IE8, which is currently available in beta form.
The full results of the survey can be found on the Tif website.
Talkback Most Recent of 46 Talkback(s)
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Exploiting???
Why used the term "exploiting" to refer to using a validly licenses older M$ OS version? All versions, including the current Vista versions should be exploited for the highest ROI possible. Vista as an upgrade path doesn't really offer ROI for most companies -- thus your answer why people aren't moving towards it.
Spats302nd Oct 2008 -
Vista is very solid choice.
These studies and polls are tiresome. CDW shows a very large adoption of Vista.
But even if you take the kace and gartner polls which come up witha lower uptake, of those that moved the vast majority said they were unsure due to perception, but found it to be the opposite of how it's been blogged, and polled that it's an excellent OS and value. The majority of those adopting also said they'd recommend it to friends and colleagues.
Vista IS the best Windows OS at this time.
Anecdotally, my laptop with Vista Ultimate x64 has been a very solid performer and I would not want to go back to XP now. The UI is so much better and windows explorer has been enhanced so much i couldn't live without the dynamic address "breadcrumb" bar.
The built in search feature is outstanding. I rarely go into programs any longer, just a type a few characters and run my app.
Just to name a very few.
The enhanced stability, from a large reduction of dependencies, is very noticible.
We are now starting to see Unix level stability on a highly functional and usable desktop. High end machines are 800.00 or so already. These are machines that were 1700.00 when Vista launched. RAM is dirt cheap so speed is a non-issue.
xuniL_z2nd Oct 2008 -
Adoption, or the kid from heck!
> CDW shows a very large adoption of Vista.
Interesting. My CentOS box was bought with Vista, since Microsoft's illegal bundling of the OS with hardware continues...
tburzio2nd Oct 2008 -
There, there......it'll be ok.
Please get off of that non-argument. Microsoft was the reason those OEM's exist by and large, but i have to wonder, why are they the only ones that can sell PCs? Why does Microsoft's partners have to suddenly start losing money by selling machines with an OS that has no popularity...maybe unicef could help you out?
Think of it, anything that becomes popular in this world, any idea, product, service, that commands attention, what happens? Venture capitalists, wealthy entrepreneurs, the market in general, they build that product up, provide the funds to get that product or service to as many people as possible, the inventor really has nothing to do once it catches on. Look at Krispy Kreme. But even the popular Firefox browser's maker, Mozilla, has to rely on backdoor deals with Google and Yahoo to get funding from the com side to the org side, instead of going commercial with the software. Why is the latter worse? It can still be open.
So, if Linux based OSes were popular in their own right, and VCs et al saw potential and growth, there would have been an ecosystem build up around it by now...long ago if it's what many claim it is. Don't you think it's the non commerical nature of it that has kept it from being picked up by any backers until recently? You call Microsoft selling it's OS through it's partners "illegal", yet you probably don't want Linux OSes to go fully commercial? If it had, 5 years ago, gone retail and advertised, any of the better distros, it would be way further along, but nope, it's easier to blaim Microsoft for controlling the world with their evil powers. bwwaa haaa ha.
People know nothing of it by and large because there is no way for them to hear about it except word of mouth. That might be ok for a local business, but expect decades for a product available globally to take off big time by word of mouth.
So most Linux fanboys want it to be "free" and "open" and yet they complain about capitalist companies making money and why those capitalist companies don't offer their "free" and "open" OS on their machines. My Son is 5 years old and could answer that question for you, and it would not be "because Microsoft forces you to buy their product".
If Linux based software wants to make it big, there will need to be more canonicals that are led by a capitalist, not someone like RMS.
People are not going to just one day say, hey, I shouldn't have to pay for my OS dammit, i'm going to find out if there is a free one. That's just not going to happen. Linux based OSes need to find their own channels of distribution and their own exposure. would it kill FOSS to run advertisments and get people curious about it??
I'm not against open source, i just think the people that use it are blaming the wrong ones when it comes to the availability of hardware with a Linux OS preinstalled, or naked. They have to make that happen and easily could with some concessions. Heck, OSS has already gotten in bed with Google and IBM and so many other big corporations, why not go retial and charge something for it so that the Bestbuys, the Dells and the NEW channels open up to it?
In the meantime, you don't think a magic fairy is going to make it happen, do you?xuniL_z3rd Oct 2008 -
No ROI for migrating
For those who already have Windows XP, forcibly migrating to Vista is not cost effective. We are still installing Windows XP on all desktops and laptops provided to our user community, regardless of whether or not Vista was present. The reason is simple: our desktop environment is STABLE and reliability is GREAT. We don't have to retrain users on ANYTHING.
I don't understand why so many people hold up the argument that Vista is BETTER, so what? We don't buy the top-of-the-line hardware, we buy what is most economical and gets the job done. Anything else is overkill. The same is true for software, and that puts Vista out in the cold for us.
terry flores2nd Oct 2008 -
Of course some shops won't go, some are still using win98....
IT is slow moving beast for the heart of SMBs, that's cool. I wasn't trying to argue that YOU should move to Vista.
You better hope a linux fanboy does't read your post however cause you'll get a major harassment on why XP is NOT stable nor reliable. I agree with you.
Now progressive companies and those moving to new hardware (almost any PC you'd get today for your business will run Vista Business fine) should consider it, at least. It's part of due dilligence as an IT professional, plain and simple. Vista has an amazing number of advantages over XP that go well beyond much better stability (ability to run far more programs w/o trouble) and great security.
But that is something each IT professional has to discover for themselves and then decide.
Good luck. Sometimes you really do have spend money to make money. A vision and the right tools can often bring returns beyond your expectations, rather than sticking to the status quo and running a "good enough" shop.xuniL_z3rd Oct 2008 -
There is no major value with Vista
With the short lifespan that vista will have between it's release and the release of Windows 7 most people and especially corporate bean counters are saying "why bother?".
The problem with a new OS adoption is that you have to install and test ALL of the applications in your enterprise. test that everything still works, run performance testing, run regression testing, & work flow testing.
Then you get to actually deploy a small number of machines in the enterprise and monitor the real world usage. After you have gone through this daunting process you can talk about upgrading enterprise wide.
No IT department of a company who's business and daily operations live and die by the reliability of their operating systems is going to blindly deploy a new OS without a solid plan.
Suicida|3rd Oct 2008 -
You're saying to procrastinate then?
Windows 7 will present the same issues to current XP or win2000pro users. Vista allows you to get the process underway now since win7 will be entirely compatible with Vista.
If fact, it's not as hard as you make it seem, at least for shops that don't program inhouse. And even those that do, if they've been coding since 2002 using sp2 guidelines, their programs will run on Vista in compatibility mode.
It's a good time to make the transition to 64 bit as well. In my experience, there has been little to no impact using the 64 bit version in a SMB healthcare environment running a very large HIS on top of windows server 2003.
Client issues have been minimal since Vista supports all xpsp2 code/drivers written to spec. Which is at least almost all drivers, and all code that is worth running. If it was created post 2002 and doesn't run on Vista, it is poorly written software and probably you should look at re-writing it (even w/o /Vista in the picture).
The process may be even more difficult if you wait and jump straight to win7.
xuniL_z6th Oct 2008 -
It's just business sense
By the time they finished spending tons of money
buying all those copies of Windows Vista, and
installing this new operating system on all of their
computers, and re-training all of their employees in
how to use it, and they got enough practice to be as
productive in Vista as they were in XP, Windows 7 will
be already out, and probably a service pack (or 2) for
it as well.
Another thing you might want to do some fact checking
on before saying any more about, 64 bit. XP comes in
64 bit to. Heck, all modern operating systems do.
This is no more a valid reason to switch to Vista then
"so you can use an ethernet cable" is.
AzuMao6th Nov 2008 -
You may find it tiresome but that doesn't mean it's incorrect
This article is not about Vista's technical merits. It's about what businesses are actually doing with their budgets.
"The majority of those adopting also said they'd recommend it to friends and colleagues."
That's not exactly an interesting statistic. People who like Vista are willing to recommend it to others? Who knew?
The point of this article isn't that everyone hates Vista, the point is that many companies are not switching to Vista, but are sticking with XP for now.
Stability improvements are only a big selling point if you're currently having stability problems.
Legacy hardware and user retraining are more important issues for many companies.
Sure, RAM is cheap these days. But it's not as cheap as not buying anything at all. Which is kind of the point of this. People aren't abandoning Vista, they're simply staying with XP, at no cost.
Vista may be a solid choice from the technical perspective, but this is about money and roi.
Bottom line: Vista is fine, but it just doesn't provide enough benefits to offset the costs for many businesses.
Which is all that I (and many others) have been saying for a long time.
If that makes me an ABMer/Hater/drooling psychotic/etc in your book, so be it.
bmerc3rd Oct 2008 -
Do you always jump to conclusions?
I'm not trying to sell everyone on Vista, if that is what you think?
I have plenty of people that are still on win2000pro.
I think Vista is a good idea as you roll out new hardware however. The upside is way more than better stability and security, but that's for you to discover.
I have and have leveraged it in certain roles.
Fiscal, Admin, Dept. heads and HIS are on Vista.
We've found dozens of ways to leverage new functionality to give us good ROI.
And i'll tell you, the new UI has more of positive impact on people using their computer than anyone would probably admit to, but it does. big time. We have people that don't ever want to use XP again, including me.xuniL_z3rd Oct 2008 -
From a productivity standpoint, the question still remains...
What is there in Vista that I can't do in XP?
Shilldom-101 aside...
hasta la Vista, bah-bie3rd Oct 2008 -
What can you do in XP......
That you couldn't in win2000pro? The things are subtle, but they are there and XP has become the defacto standard most secure, pre-Vista, most stable, pre-vista, most reliable, pre-vista, windows ever. Ever since Vista came out, many are having an XP love-a-thon.
But, truely, what does XP have that win2000pro doesn't?
And as with XP, there will simply be more support, inside and outside of Microsoft for Vista. There will be no more service packs for XP.
The usual stuff. But beyond that, and beyond the fact that for Home owners it's a no brainer -
Absolutely gorgeous UI that once you are used to, you will never go back.
Massively better security and solid software. Compare Vista patches since it came to, say, OS X, no comparison.
An evolution in stability and reliability. With far fewer dependencies has come an OS that is simply much more solid and dependable than any before it, from anyone. This is the OS itself, i'm not talking about faulty non compliant drivers and their effects. That goes for any OS, but even then it is rather graceful. no brainer reason for home user alone
Great Parental controls
Aero is far more than "eye candy". Anyone who can't appreciate a more vivid, effect capable and animated environment, in my opinion, is not being truthful or is trying really hard to dislike Vista. Aero is very cool and between myriad effects and 3D, there are applications in business and many fields, like the Imaging program that takes various radiology images of a patient from differnt sides, angles, and creates a rotating 3D look at the affected area for radiologists or physicians. But it is only limited by the imagination. If it weren't cool, FlashPlayer would have died an early death on the internet.
Killer new Audio subsystem
Performance self healing, self tuning. I can say the new performance, resource and reliability diagnostics are killer. You can pinpoint any problem hardware or software, over time and with a few clicks have a custom event viewer come up with only related entries. You can see what's happening during startup and shutdown in much more detail. The troubleshooting tools are a world beyond XP.
Built in Media Center that is worth the price of admission on it's own. World class software that any home user who discovers it, loves. And it's far better than prior media center.
It's faster at many things, like downloading data from the internet.
Instant search is awesome and apparently forgotten.
File preview. This is great. Especially when going through a folder of old Word documents or other text or compatible documents, that peek inside the file is priceless.
The dynamic breadcrumb address bar in windows explorer is too cool. If you've not found how much handier this is to use, which is a business related productivity enhancer as well, then you may not have discovered and are one of those people asking "Where's the up button in Vista??
Readyboost. Very cool and goes far beyond what you could do with XP.
Capable of twice the speed of XP on a windows server 2008 network. It's the future, ride the wave.
Home network setup is SO easy with the Network and Sharing Center
Windows movie maker.
File organization has new and better options.
Some of this has been for business too....such as far and away better reliability and many others
Bitlocker.
Very good new group policy controls, including the ability to control activeX deployment securely.
smb 2.0 support
Better and more networking tools.
incoming and outgoing firewall
IE runs in protected mode.
although office 2007 runs on XP, it integrates better with Vista and VS 2008 has many more Office project types.
Foundation classes, WPF and WCF.
WPF is obviously Vista only classes.
With Silverlight now in the development mix RIAs will become the norm.
As a network client, it is better than XP. Plain and simple. It's new search, organization and other file handling features along with much better GP control and networking tools, it will be the defacto standard.
So again, if you think XP is somehow better than win2000pro, then you'll see a massive difference between XP and Vista.
The people using it are very happy with it after getting used to it..they love it. And IT is very happy with it. The tools for the pc tech are way ahead of XP. The tools for the network admin are way ahead of XP.
xuniL_z6th Oct 2008 -
you gotta be kidding
"We are now starting to see Unix level stability on a highly functional and usable desktop."
So you've never used Linux or OSX before I take it? It's a Windows-only world to you?
Geeze, go buy a real operating system and see what MS has been making pathetic imitations of since Windows 3.1.
Or better still, download Linux for free to see what a real OS can do.
Kebbles3rd Oct 2008 -
Vista implementation
where I work at we support approximately 47,000 users.
with (not counting servers) close to 80,000 pc's.
there are about 120 linux boxes, 7 vista machines
(only 2 in production/live test the rest are closed
test systems), 5 MAC powerbooks about 3,000 win 2k
machines and everything else is Win XP. currently
based off of incompatibility issues with certain
legacy apps, DoD security requirements not being able
to be upheld, and overall upgrade cost, it is likely
that Vista will be implemented in 2011 when the volume
license Software assurance on our XP machines expires
and we can no longer legally run Win XP anymore.
aiellenon7th Oct 2008
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