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Stating the Obvious about Windows Deployments

Are we stating the obvious when we reveal that Windows Server 2003 dominates on servers among our readership? How about if we told you that it wasn't total and utter domination?

• By Michael Domingo
• August 31, 2005

If you think Windows Vista might be a hard sell when 2007 swings around, Microsoft still has work convincing some of its customers to upgrade to Windows Server 2003. According to results gathered in conjunction with MCPmag.com's annual salary survey, only 71 percent of respondents have deployed the network operating system; almost 17 percent plan to migrate to it by the end of this year and next. Remember, this is a survey of 1,700 readers of Redmond Magazine and MCPmag.com newsletter subscribers, who work in primarily Microsoft shops.

Mark Hoffman, a network administrator for Zeochem in Louisville, Kentucky, doesn't anticipate a move to Longhorn Server unless "there is some substantial benefit," he says. "We are just now moving to Windows 2003," Hoffman adds.

What's noteworthy is that, of 1,037 respondents who were asked what they were migrating from, 75 percent of them say they plan to migrate to Windows 2003 from Windows 2000, while 14.8 percent plan to migrate from NT 4.0.

Making the desktop move might be an easier sell, if the popularity of Windows XP is any indication. According to our survey, almost 90 percent use it or will have it deployed. Kent Ruddick, director of IT for AF Evans in Oakland, Calif., says his company will take a methodical upgrade approach to Windows Vista: "We will stick with our current model of replacing a computer a month and we'll get the new OS when it's available."

How Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Exchange are deployed among Redmond and MCPmag.com readers. Active Directory deployments are shown for comparison. (Click image to view larger version.)

The results were gathered as part of MCPmag.com's 10th Annual Salary Survey; to read more, click here.