Enterprises Are Deploying Office 2007 Without Vista
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Three out of four enterprises are deploying Office 2007 without regard for Windows Vista, according to a new IT executive survey from CDW. |
The survey is the final of three CDW planned between late 2006 and late 2007. CDW commissioned Walker Information to conduct the surveys, one before Office 2007 launched and two others in February 2007 and November 2007. After discussing the second survey, CDW asked if there was any question I would want to ask IT decision makers. My request: Were enterprises deploying Office 2007 and Windows Vista together? I suspected many would enterprises not, in part because Microsoft created no real synergy between the products.
Late this afternoon, David Cottingham, CDW's director of product and partner management, gave the answer to my question.
"Seventy-five percent said that their Office 2007 deployments are not tied to their Vista deployment plans," Cottingham said. "They aren't linking those together. It's a separate decision in their point of view."
I batted my eyes in surprise, which he couldn't so over the phone, of course. So, I asked his reaction. Cottingham said that anecdotally, CDW was aware that many enterprises weren't deploying the two products together. Still, he conceded: "I was a little surprised that it was that high."
The findings aren't surprising for a few reasons:
- Microsoft created no real dependencies between Office 2007 and Windows Vista.
- Enterprises can deploy Office 2007 on existing hardware and on Windows XP. No major upgrades required.
- Office 2007 won't cause the widespread application incompatibilities associated with Windows Vista.
- Office 2007 is dramatically different from Office 2003 and arguably a better product. Vista is marginally better than Windows XP.
Already, nearly one-quarter of enterprises have adopted Office 2007, according to the CDW study. But adoption is a somewhat ambiguous term. The same survey asked IT decision makers about completing Vista migrations, which is more finite. Adoption could mean anywhere from one copy to 10,000, given that many organizations deploy new software in waves. So reinterpreted, at least 24 percent of enterprises have deployed some Office 2007 seats.
The different adoption trends between Office 2007 and Windows Vista should concern Microsoft and its channel. Between February and November, Office 2007 deployments climbed from 6 percent to 24 percent, compared to a 6 percent-to-13-percent change for Windows Vista. Another 23 percent of enterprises plan to deploy Office 2007.
If CDW is correct in its deployment prognosis, Office 2007 should make a strong revenue showing when Microsoft announces fiscal 2008 second quarter results at the end of this month. Office 2007already delivered strong sales growth during fiscal first quarter.
Still, there is some weakness in enterprise deployment plans, which should concern Microsoft and its partners. Fifteen percent of enterprises plan no Office 2007 deployments, while another 37 percent are uncertain. That means more than half of enterprises may never upgrade to Office 2007, which would be more in line with Office 2003 deployments. While Office 2007 is off to a strong start, there remains uncertainty—at least based on CDW's data—about its longer term sales sustainability.
Related Posts:
- Enterprise Vista Adoption Is Better, Not Great, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 14, 2008
- The Year of Office 2007, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 18, 2007
- R.I.P.: The Web 2.0 Office Suite, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 18, 2007
- Office 2007 SP1 Isn't a Gift, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 11, 2007
- Office 2007: One Year Later, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 30, 2007
- Office Trial Causes Channel Conflict, Microsoft Watch, Oct. 8, 2007
- Office 2007 Competitors Stack Up, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 18, 2007
- Office 2007: Don't Wait for Vista, Microsoft Watch, July 19, 2007
- Microsoft's Mixed Motifs, Microsoft Watch, July 18, 2007
- Questioning Office 2007 Priorities, Microsoft Watch, July 17, 2007
- Early Office 2007 Retail Sales Exceed Predecessor, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 13, 2007
- A Lesson in Office Student and Teacher Edition, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 2, 2007
Comments (7)
These charts don't surprise me at all...
Word of mouth around the world can have a huge impact on sales for anything. Since Vista hasn't be accepted very well (especially in business), and people share their dislike of the OS online, it's easy to see why people don't want to deploy it (not to mention the marketing aspect is pretty much non-existent for the OS). While with office, the marketing has been smart, styled, and across many formats...also, it has been received very well by the general public (including myself), and this has led to stronger sales and in turn, more deployment (or considered deployment)...more power to office...still the best productivity suite around...
Posted by urluckyday | January 14, 2008 6:38 PM
office 2007 is not better for those of us that write vba code. if fact, it's much worse. a couple of items: custom toolbars no longer work and code takes about twice as long to run. it sucks if you ask me.
Posted by garyk | January 14, 2008 9:06 PM
But what's the status of OOXML, which is the native document format for Office 2007? That has yet to be finalized, until Microsoft has addressed the objections raised in the first ISO vote, am I right? So what will happen to all the existing users of Office 2007 and 2008 once that's done? They'll need updates to read/write the revised format. So what happens to their existing documents? And what happens when they try to interchange documents with other Office 2007/2008 users who haven't got the update?
Just sounds like another big mess coming down the pipe for Microsoft, and those of its users who have bought into OOXML.
Posted by Lawrence D'Oliveiro | January 14, 2008 9:41 PM
Quote;
Lawrence D'Oliveiro :
"But what's the status of OOXML, which is the native document format for Office 2007? That has yet to be finalized, until Microsoft has addressed the objections raised in the first ISO vote, am I right?"
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Yes, you are of course entirely right. Not only that, but now there will be even more problems with OOXML being investigated by the EU.
Europe takes on Microsoft again after rivals’ attacks
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3187718.ece
"European investigators will examine whether Microsoft has refused to disclose interoperability information and will look at whether Office Open XML, its file format, is sufficiently interoperable with competitors’ products, and whether Microsoft has introduced technologies that would reduce compatibility."
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In otherwords, the lockinware playbook of Micro$oft is about to be made illegal.
Posted by chips | January 14, 2008 10:08 PM
The EU Commission has effectively spread FUD about the OOXML format, but Microsoft may have created its biggest problems, itself. Once Office abandoned its (own) dominant proprietary format, what reason will there be to stick with Office? Since Office 2007 also breaks the "familiarity factor," even the retraining/productivity argument becomes moot. OpenOffice supports the MicroSoft .doc format and many others (including the ISO standards-based ODF), it is not tied to the whims of any company, and its price cannot be beat. Being an open format, so long as there are programmers left on this planet, its documents will be accessible, even if OpenOffice.org and every other organization supporting ODF folds. In contrast, OOXML does not even follow its own published ECMA 376 standards that MicroSoft wants accepted by the ISO (See that link, above.) Furthermore, Office 2007 is not fully backwards compatable with even Office 2003 (Same link, for examples.). As a small business owner, I am not only NOT upgrading to Office 2007, I happily removed MicroSoft Office from my network a long time ago.
Posted by pinball | January 15, 2008 11:39 AM
OFFICE2007 I WANT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by simran | January 18, 2008 2:34 PM
office 2007 is not better for those of us that write vba code.
Posted by oyunlar | January 20, 2008 11:56 AM