Vista: The 10 Percent Solution
Vista fans (some of whom you'll hear from in today's Mailbag section) wonder why I'm down on Vista. I'm a critic because most of you are critics. The latest proof point? Research from Forrester that gives Vista
less than 10 percent share of the enterprise market -- this after a solid two years of shipping and one major service pack.
Forrester, however, argues that "enterprises are warming to Windows Vista," and by the end of the year half of all enterprises will be penetrated to some degree by Vista. (But after hearing from a cool dozen Redmond Report readers who are testing Windows 7, I believe by the end of the year half of all enterprises will be penetrated to some degree by Windows 7!)
Forrester analysts advise moving to Vista first, then Windows 7, because the two OSes are basically the same and use the same code base. I'm not sure if these ivory tower spreadsheet jockeys have talked to real Vista users and real Windows 7 beta testers. If they had, they'd know that Windows 7 is everything that Vista should've been and promises to be a far better operating system.
Posted by Doug Barney on February 04, 2009