News

Survey: Few Have Plans To Migrate to Vista in 2008

Computer Economics released a new report characterizing the adoption rate of Windows Vista by businesses as "slow."

• By Kurt Mackie
• 06/17/2008

That finding contrasts with a survey conducted by Forrester Research that reported businesses as being "well under way with their software and hardware compatibility testing and are planning to start their deployment [of Vista] toward the end of this year and into 2009."

Computer Economics takes the view that some sort of operating system migration plans should be in place by IT organizations. However, that step hasn't happened yet with some companies.

"While it is not surprising that only a few organizations are moving ahead with Vista, we are surprised by the number of organizations in our study that report 'no activity' with regards to their implementations," the announcement stated.

The lack of activity suggests that Microsoft could lose operating market share should companies implement alternatives to Vista, according to the Research Byte. Still, the report found only a small number of respondents had researched using desktop Linux as an alternative.

The clock is ticking for organizations using Microsoft's venerable Windows XP operating system. Microsoft plans to end Windows XP licensing for new state-of-the-art PCs this month. However, those using Windows XP will have access to free general support until April 2009, with extended support available until April 2014.

The report sees the release of Vista Service Pack 1 as a "solid" advance over the original Vista release. It adds that many of the device drivers and applications for Vista "are becoming increasingly available," supporting the decision to upgrade to Vista.

The Research Byte announcement doesn't mince words in discovering reasons why companies may be dragging their feet on Vista migration.

"Migrations are expensive, disruptive, and entail risk," Computer Economics writes. "There are few compelling reasons for moving to Vista, and there is no evidence that Vista delivers any kind of return on investment."

Despite that strong statement, Computer Economics analysts believe that IT managers should be acting to ensure "that their investments today will be compatible with Vista tomorrow."

The five-page report, "Microsoft Vista Migration Still Slow in 2008," describes Vista adoption plans, Service Pack 1 improvements and alternatives to Vista such as Linux desktop.