Uptake of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is starting to pick up among US businesses.
Just under half (48 percent) of US IT decision makers are using or evaluating Vista, according to a poll by IT services firm CDW.
This is CDW's third Windows Vista tracking poll since October 2006 and shows a 19 percentage-point increase in uptake since February 2007.
Vista migration is also increasing, with more than a third (35 percent) of those surveyed saying they are in the process of moving to Vista. In comparison, just 12 percent said this last February.
Thirteen percent of these migrations are complete and another third are due to be finished by May 2008.
CDW claimed this shows Microsoft's latest operating system is now seen as a more viable option in the mainstream business market.
Of those still testing and migrating to Vista, almost half said its performance and key features are "above expectations" with the top-rated features being security, performance, productivity, search and updates.
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Mark Gambill, CDW vice president, said the past year was one of "adaptations and learning for Microsoft, industry partners and adopters alike".
Gambill added that, since people have begun to understand the benefits of the operating system, there has been a "steady move towards adoption".
The CDW survey also found an increase in Microsoft Office 2007 adoption, with almost a quarter (24 percent) of businesses saying they'd made the move, compared to just six percent in the last survey.
The poll was conducted by Walker Information and covered 772 IT decision makers.
Talkback
So this Vista was the only MS OS available on new laptops and desktops for nearly a year until users forced a climbdown and yet less than 50% of companies are using or evaluating it. Figures speak for themselves.
The way Microsoft control and sell to the market alone would account for the percentages.
The headline could just as easily be "US businesses go through pointless IT pain to make donations to Microsoft shareholders", but of course that doesn't give the impression to the sheep that they should follow suit.
As long as Europe continues to develop an IT supercentre, and we push Open Source within our boundaries, then I really don't care what the US does.
What the US will end up with is a nation of clickers for "IT administrators", which doesn't bode well for them down the road. They'll have to learn the hard way.
Europe can quietly continue with its best of breed developers and enjoy the benefits of the Open Source ecosystem.
I don't really think that I can believe these figures, there are too many hardware and software compatibility issues surrounding Vista, not to mention the very high hardware specifications needed to run Vista at a satisfactory performance level.
I also support the comments in the previous posts. Lets hope M$ sees sense in the next few months and extends the availability of XP for at least several more years and OEM's offer the choice. Otherwise, it's hobson choice.
I'm sitting here trying to figure out what all those numbers mean, and what "uptake" means as compared to "using or evaluating", or being "in the process of moving to Vista". Hmmm, 48% are "using or evaluating", while 35% are "in the process of moving". Is that 35% in addition to the 48%, so the total "uptake" is 82% who are "using, evaluating or in the process of moving"? That would be impressive, but I doubt it.
Ok, what about this.. 13% of the 35% are complete, so that would be 4.55% actually using Vista? That's not too impressive! Maybe it will get better in May... another third of the 35% should be done by then... (my teacher used to scold me for mixing fractions and percentages, now I understand why), that's another 11.55%, so that will be a total of a whopping 16.1% using Vista? That seems as ridiculously low as the 82% was high previously.
They say numbers don't lie... but they are certainly subject to different interpretations, and different presentations. The number I would like to see, which isn't present, is what percentage have "evaluated" Vista and then decided against it, as I have done twice now?
jw
These figures will sure be music to all ears at Redmond HQ, though i'd be a little skeptical as to the reasons why so many businesses would want switch to Vista now.
If you are a business and weigh up the benefits, you'd notice how little there are; is it more secure than XP? maybe but what about compatibility issues that still exist? what about hardware upgrades necessary for migrating to Vista?
Having considered that, would it still make financial sense to upgrade now? keep in mind there's nothing wrong with XP.
My guess is; most of these numbers are representative of new intallations.