News
Windows Server 2003 Outpacing Windows 2000
- By Scott Bekker
- July 29, 2003
Windows Server 2003 is selling much more rapidly than Windows 2000 Server did at this stage in the product lifecycle, according to Microsoft officials.
"We're now at three times the run rate of Windows Server 2000," said Eric Rudder, senior vice president for servers and tools, at a financial analysts day presentation last week.
Microsoft has declined to provide figures. But the comparison implies that the number of Windows Server 2003 shipments in the three months since its April 24 launch are much higher than the number of shipments of Windows 2000 Server in the three months following its Feb. 17, 2000 launch.
The higher run rate is consistent with analyst predictions. At the April 24 launch, IDC analyst Al Gillen predicted rapid uptake for Windows Server 2003 due to its incremental enhancements over Windows 2000 and its tight compatibility with Windows 2000 in mixed environments.
"All the momentum that Windows 2000 currently has, Windows Server 2003 will absorb that really quickly," Gillen said at the time.
Gillen said that in calendar year 2000, Windows 2000 accounted for 22 percent of Microsoft server OS shipments compared to 78 percent for Windows NT 4.0. By contrast, Gillen predicted Windows Server 2003 would make up 29 percent of Microsoft server OS shipments in calendar year 2003, with Windows 2000 accounting for 71 percent of shipments.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.