While Microsoft is still working hard to convince enterprises to upgrade their computer system to Vista, the software company has also announced the release of Windows 7 in three years time. The announcement has sparked a stormy debate about whether it is best to move to Vista or skip it altogether and just wait for Windows 7 arrive.

Just before the Windows 7 announcement came, CDW Corporation conducted a survey of 753 IT decision makers on Vista adoption, which showed that about 1% of respondents had completed the upgrade to Vista, 19% planned to upgrade within the next 12 months, 6% planned to upgrade beyond 12 months, 13% planned to start rolling out Vista next year, and about 48% had no firm plan to upgrade.

The findings simply mean that more than half of enterprises have simply not made up their minds about Vista.

Microsoft also reportedly adjusted its 2008 fiscal year sales forecast for its operating systems, increasing XP by nearly 50% and decreasing Vista by about 8 percent, which indicates XP is still more popular than Microsoft expected it would be after the release of Vista.

Microsoft may be undermining its own efforts to sell Vista by announcing next OS at this time. A number of enterprises including government agencies have already indicated they may avoid upgrading to Vista, and just wait until Windows 7.

But Gartner has already issued warning that sticking to Windows XP until the release of Windows 7 may not be the best idea given Microsoft’s “poor” track record of shipping new products on time.

It seems to be a case of you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 11:59 pm under Uncategorized.  Print This Post

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