Friday, October 3, 2008

Businesses focus on Windows 7, XP over Vista

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.

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