Mine is the real reality. Vista is going down, just like I predicted 2 years
ago, months before it was officially released.. and after a few seconds of
using it, I knew it was doomed. Not even 300 million will save it from the
graveyard of stinky OS's.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1501
The same day that Forrester Research is touting yet another of a growing
number of studies claiming Vista is failing to gain traction in the
enterprise, Microsoft is claiming just the opposite.
In a presentation at Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting in Redmond
on July 24, company officials outlined their bullish projections and claims
for Windows Vista. But it wasn’t the facts and figures that garnered the
most attention from attendees here; instead, it was a video of a focus group
of Vista skeptics who changed their originally negative opinions of
Microsoft’s latest Windows release once they had a chance to see it
demonstrated.
Microsoft told the focus group participants that they were seeing a demo of
“Mojave,” (why not “Midori”?) an as-yet-unannounced Windows release (which
was actually Windows Vista). The participants, a number of whom admitted
they had no direct hands-on experience with Vista, said they were jazzed
about Mojave and would definitely use it once it was released.
The Mojave demo was used to back Microsoft’s contention that once they had a
chance to try Vista for themselves, customers liked the product.
Forrester Research issued new study results today claiming that 18 months
after release, “Vista is still struggling to gain a foothold in large
companies.” Forrester called Vista the “new Coke.”
Forrester said that Vista use remains in the single digits (”just under nine
percent according to Forrester’s month-by-month desk-top analysis of 50,000
of our enterprise clients across 2,300 companies. That’s up from six percent
in January of this year, but far short of the 87 percent penetration for
Windows XP.”)
Meanwhile, Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President for Online Services and
Windows Business Group, told FAM attendees today that Vista’s uptake among
business users is solid. He said Vista enterprise sales were up 20 percent
and renewal rates for Software Assurance among business users were greater
than 80 percent. (Not surprisingly, there were no stats in Veghte’s
presentation about what percentage of business users are downgrading to XP,
one of their “benefits” under the Software Assurance program.)
The answer to whether Vista is growing among enterprise users is “an
emphatic yes,” Veghte said.
Veghte said that the higher end of the mid-market also is beginning to
upgrade more rapidly to Vista.
Microsoft identifies the business version of Vista as Vista Enterprise,
coupled with the optimized desktop (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, or
MDOP). Veghte told FAM attendees that Microsoft is readying a set of new
MDOP updates for later this year.
Veghte also emphasized that three quarters of Microsoft’s customers are
opting for “premium” versions of Vista, rather than bare-bones, lower-priced
ones (like Vista Home Basic.) He told attendees of FAM that Microsoft will
be “aggressive” in getting PC makers to attached Genuine Windows (rather
than pirated versions of the product) right out of the gate.
“Perception vs. reality — that’s a conversation we need to have with our
customers this year,” Veghte said.
Do you agree with Microsoft Vista’s biggest challenge is perception, not
performance, at this point? Or do you think Forrester is closer to reality
with “Vista is the ‘new Coke’ analogy?
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