twitter's Journal: Big Business Still Says No to Vista

Analysts, Forester Research and Gatner, both report big business continues to scale back Vista migration plans and exercise "downgrade" license rights. They could move at any time without additional licensing costs and Microsoft has begged them to do so but other things stand in the way.

"fairly aggressive" deployment plans, however, failed to materialize ... "Many of the IT pros we've spoken with feel like they've just completed their OS migration project and are wary of starting a new one anytime soon," Gray wrote. ... Another reason for the Vista delay is the operating system's limited compatibility with existing applications. ... from 60% to 90% for their existing software. Finally, users are waiting for Configuration Manager to aid in deploying Vista, despite the fact that Microsoft is pushing its Business Desktop Deployment (BDD)

This confirms another recent study showing 87% of business users don't want Vista and the number who want gnu/linux has swelled from 2 to 8%.

It's too bad more are not considering a move to free software. The non free "compatibility" problem is perennial but a well managed gnu/linux move can deliver better than 60%. Once open standards are used, the "compatibility" problem is replaced by an a choice of applications that can use the data perfectly. Free software is also easier to manage and keep up to date, so businesses that use it won't take six years to move and then not be ready for the next version. The cost of this mess is something big business pushes down to the rest of us.