CDW provided me with some interesting information regarding adoption of Microsoft's latest operating systems:
The Vista Tracking poll indicates that since the previous tracking poll conducted in February of 2007, the number of organizations using and evaluating Windows Vista has increased from 29 percent to 48 percent. Additional findings include:
- 35 percent of all respondents report that they have completed implementing Windows Vista or are in various stages of implementation, up from just 12 percent in February 2007
- Almost 50 percent of organizations using or testing Windows Vista state that its performance has proven to exceed their expectations on key features and benefits, such as improved security, performance, and user productivity, among others
- Microsoft Office 2007 adoption has increased from 6 percent of respondents in the February 2007 survey to 24 percent in 2008. Another 23 percent say they plan to upgrade to Office 2007, the vast majority of them within 12 months
The Server 2008 tracking poll showed that 63 percent of U.S. IT professionals expect their organizations to adopt the new server operating system (OS) eventually, with 18 percent already at some stage of planning for near team adoption. However, interest in Windows Server 2008 and server virtualization appears to vary among user markets in some interesting ways. Additional findings include:
- Security features, along with ease/speed of setup and administration top the list of perceived benefits of Windows Server 2008
- Sixty-six percent of organizations say that their plans for upgrades to Windows Server 2008 are independent of their plans for client upgrades to Windows Vista. Those who do connect the two plans have a slight preference for implementing Vista before adopting Windows Server 2008
- State/local governments and higher education IT professionals appear more interested in Windows Server 2008 and in server virtualization than their colleagues in business segments, large or small
- Small business and K-12 education markets tend to lag the total market’s awareness of Windows Server 2008 and interest in server virtualization – one of the new server operating system’s most talked-about benefits
Sounds like a freaking disaster, eh? :)