Vista in Enterprise: Boom or Bust?
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News Analysis. To hear Bill Veghte tell it, Vista is doing well in the enterprise. Forrester Research tells another story. |
Bill Veghte, who is Microsoft's senior veep for the Online Services & Windows Business Group, spoke about the state of Windows Vista during a keynote today at the company's annual Financial Analysts Meeting.
He asserted, with surprising confidence, that Vista is doing well among enterprises, particularly following the release of Service Pack 1. Granted, Microsoft shipped 40 million more Vista licenses—for a total of 180 million since launch—during the second calendar quarter.
Bill followed COO Kevin Turner, who was a booming presence on stage. The contrast made Bill look weak and very unconvincing. Where Kevin rat-tat-tatted percentages and growth statistics, Bill spoke almost allegorically about Vista. For example, he described Windows Vista as "bold" and "in many dimensions."
Do you believe that? I don't, given the market reception. Those 180 million licenses are shipped, not deployed. Bill said that Vista is "62 percent more secure" than Windows XP Service Pack 2." By what measure, I wonder.
Bill asserted that Vista adoption is tracking about the same as Windows XP during the same release time frame. That's actually indication that Vista is doing poorly. XP was released about 18 months after Windows 2000, which dragged enterprise adoption. By contrast, Vista shipped about six years after Windows XP. Vista should have benefited from pent-up demand. If demand is only about the same as XP in the same time frame, adoption isn't doing well. Something else: PC volumes are much bigger in 2008 than they were in 2003.
He did offer one proof point about Vista, based on survey work done for Microsoft by NPD. Among the consumers surveyed, 89 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied and 83 percent said they would recommend the product. I really hate it when someone combines "satisfied or very satisfied" to get a big number. Such an approach can make very satisfied seem larger than it really is.
Now one thing I believed. Bill spoke about licensing growth of over 20 percent growth and 80 percent renewal rates for enterprise volume licensing.
Perhaps reading Forrester's report "Enterprise Trends: Vista Is Rejected; Mozilla and Apple Make Small Gains" affected my reception to Bill's presentation. Forrester analyst Thomas Mendell described Vista as the "new Coke." What happened to the old Coke? It became the new Coke. That's Microsoft's situation, as businesses strip off many of those 180 million Vista licenses that Microsoft claims and reimages with Windows XP.
Forrester surveyed 50,000 enterprise customers. In June, Vista enterprise adoption was a mere 8.8 percent, up from 6.2 percent in January. By comparison, Windows XP had 87.1 percent adoption.
How's this for an endorsement? Thomas advised: "Consider following the lead of Microsoft's most important partner Intel and re-evaluating the case for Vista."
Forrester's data is consistent with enterprise surveys conducted by eWEEK. Enterprises aren't rushing to deploy Windows Vista.
Bill didn't just talk about Vista. He lightly touched on Windows Live. "We'll deliver Windows Live Wave 3 this year." Oh, really? Good for Microsoft.
Bill also gave a demo of Internet Explorer 8. Read this statistic slowly: Microsoft data shows that there are 1 million phishing attacks every week. Phishing prevention is one of IE 8's many new features.
"We'll be in beta in a month or so," Bill said.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].
Comments (24)
You can take that statistic that Vista is "62% more secure" than XP to the bank. It's well-known that Microsoft's claims are 97% lie-free.
Posted by Lawrence D'Oliveiro | July 24, 2008 8:56 PM
I have an Acer Vista with service package 1....I keep getting bluescreen and errors every little bit...I have been trying to get help for I am not computer inclined...I have learned that Vista is probably not for me... for I have learned in the past weeks that there is a conflict been vista and microsoft...that it is ruining my hardrive and I dont really know how to fix it .All I can think about is getting me some money and getting out of it and I will not recommend it to any one ... trust me I have talked to many about it and said DONT!!!!I play an online game... well... I pay for it for I am kicked out of it more than playing in it...if someone... anyone can tell me what to do besides paying as much money to fix ...than to buy... I would really love it.. thank you
Posted by Darlene | July 24, 2008 9:24 PM
With Windows 7 around the corner, why should businesses even bother to upgrade to Vista?
Posted by JM | July 25, 2008 8:36 AM
We just bought 10 new Dell OptiPlex 755 machines with Vista Business on them. I am currently wiping the disks and loading XP x64 on them.
One wonders if you can see the flaws in your OS and fix them if you have your head perpetually buried in the sand or somewhere else....
At least SP1 made Vista deployment an option. I really have a hard time believing the deployment stats for pre-SP1 vista. Thing was a dog, especially with the file copy bug. I mean completely un-freaking-usable....
Posted by Dennis | July 25, 2008 9:11 AM
Darlene, the disk problems are most likely related to Vista's "helpful" search feature. I have disabled it to make Vista come at least a little closer to performing decently on my laptop. To disable:
Go to the start button (the flag circle in the bottom left of your screen) and click on it. In the search field at the bottom of the screen type services.msc and hit enter. You will get a list of services that are installed on your machine. Go to the bottom of the list and look for Windows Search. When you find it check to see if it is started or not, most likely it is. Right click on it and choose properties. In the middle of the General tab you should see a box with the lable of Startup type. Click on the box and choose disabled. Then go down to the Service status section right below that and click on the Stop button. It will take a second and then stop. Click on the ok button and then close out the services window. You can almost feel the speed return...
The one other performance bit that I have done on this laptop (integrated graphics chip from Intel, boooo) is turn on the Windows Classic theme. It removes the "pretty" window dressing and disables Vista's Aero interface but that doesn't run well on this thing anyway. Right click anywhere on your desktop and choose personalize. At the bottom of this window you should see the Theme option. Choose this and in the box that pops up choose Windows Classic in the dropdown box. Say ok and it will apply the settings. Like I said, its not pretty but it is faster, especially on laptops. You can always change it back by repeating this and choosing Windows Vista instead of Windows Classic.
Posted by Dennis | July 25, 2008 9:23 AM
Darlene:
3 posibilities:
1-'Upgrade' to XP
pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=10930
2- Ask for advise until get a solution.
3- Get a refund of your Money (and after setup the OS you like)
How I got a Windows Vista refund.
http://equiliberate.org/?q=node/3
"So, world, it CAN be done - this is ~34% refund bringing the total cost of my laptop to $399.99+tax. Don't take NO for an answer. Know your rights and enforce them, or you may one day no longer have them."
"This will be my last HP product - I have read Dell customers get OS refunds in a matter of days."
Posted by Marco | July 25, 2008 1:36 PM
Almost forgot:
Acer 5672WLMI -- Clean Install XP
http://computerguru365.blogspot.com/2006/03/acer-5672wlmi-clean-install-xp.html
So now that you had a look at this laptop, I am going to show you the steps to do a Clean Install Of XP Pro.
The reason anyone would want to do a clean install is if they like their computers the way they want, you know have-it-your-way. But mostly if you dont use, or want all the pre-installed Acer software. Most of it I did not use. In my research before buying this laptop, I did find a site the reviews notebooks and they have a long thread about pro's and con's of this laptop.
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I hope that help you.
Posted by Marco | July 25, 2008 1:51 PM
Your perception of Vista as being a failure will always be the same, because thats your job. But Vista is indeed a success and will continue to be received well by both consumers and businesses. People are realizing the benefits of Vista, Security, entertainment and rich experiences. Jim Allchin said that Vista would be on 200 million PC's in 24 months of its release and it looks like the Company is on its way of reaching that goal and then some. (Try beating that)
Posted by Andre Da Costa | July 26, 2008 1:05 PM
@Andre
Listen, everyone knows that you and TC, Taylor, and some others are nothing more than MS Shills for the obvious reasons.
I, on the other hand am a Linux Shill, and damned proud of it. Yes, it's true that I have a personal issue with everyone at Redmond and that I have very little friends and no chicks. Still, I am on a mission to defend everyone who is against the monopoly.
I have no other reason, really, and I fully admit that sometimes, well, most of the time that I have very little to say that is enlightening only to my Linux brethren.
Ha, ha, ha, so I am an open source mindless and hopeless person. I also like blaming crap on everyone who I believe is out to get me and it seems like Joe will not defend me against you MS types.
I also realize that there are many people who might come here and read Joe's work and may be turned off by my mind-numbing FUD, but the truth hurts don't it?
_________________________________________
Now for the world. Listen, I know that Linux is making ground since the demise, (oh how I secretly prey) that I wake up and find Microsoft dead and the Linux community rises to the occasion making Linus T. a living god, besides he's the only one in the world, in this universe that has a right to call all of us monkeys, so be it!
I am proud of that fact and when the people realize that my ranting will one day win the world over, maybe I can become Pope of the new Linux church!
Posted by Marco | July 26, 2008 4:46 PM
Jim Allchin said that Vista would be on 200 million PC's in 24 months of its release and it looks like the Company is on its way of reaching that goal and then some. (Try beating that)
Andre when are you going to get your face out of the crack 200 million yes but 100 million removed back to XP are are full of it.
Posted by TCY | July 26, 2008 4:49 PM
Another impersonation,
obviously their target is to silence their opponents through the impersonation. Really I am not so important! but you are getting that I am feeling so, ha,ha.
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Joe; you would have to stop this, because the dialogue will be impossible (over more if the impersonation will be made to other opponents too).
Posted by Marco | July 26, 2008 6:36 PM
A simple idea: you or us could add numbers to our names and so you could filter our names in relation to our emails-thus preventing confusion or deliberated impersonation.
Posted by Marco | July 26, 2008 7:03 PM
Meanwhile I will send my posts, writing first :
--------------
How I got a Windows Vista refund.
http://equiliberate.org/?q=node/3
"So, world, it CAN be done - this is ~34% refund bringing the total cost of my laptop to $399.99+tax. Don't take NO for an answer. Know your rights and enforce them, or you may one day no longer have them."
"This will be my last HP product - I have read Dell customers get OS refunds in a matter of days."
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Perhaps I do not 'persuade' to TC/Tailor to desist their imposture, but it will be funny forcing to write that hurts to he/them
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Posted by Marco | July 26, 2008 9:12 PM
Marco, the real one,
its obvious that one of these is impersonating you. The why is more troubling. Most likely they are deeply disturbed and would rather be you. And who could blame them, as they are most likely very shallow people, who cannot win on merit of facts, and only show immature emotion.
Marco, keep up the good work, I enjoy your comments and links. As far a TK/Taylor, most likely they are one and the same, living in the back of that Van in Deadwood SD.
Posted by The Hand | July 26, 2008 11:23 PM
Marco wrote
"I, on the other hand am a Linux Shill, and damned proud of it."
---------------------------------------------------
Congrats!
It is great that we get all the latest software with the latest cutting edge applications that run on PC's, Power PC's, Sun Sparc machines, to even ancient Pentium I classics.
I have newer software than Vista, and it runs faster with less ram on my laptop ( that originally had Vista on it).
The Compiz Fusion looks better than Vista's Aero, and the wireless seems to pick up more signals and more responsive too. Oh, did I mention the software was free? Now that IS a rich experience, especially with the secure nature and piece of mind that comes with Linux.
There are fine companies, schools, government agencies, cities, military, police forces, whole governments that started the switch over to Linux that saved them from exorbitant license fees.
The Linux work stations at Lowes are pretty nifty,check them out next time you shop there. They are running Firefox with a Xfce desktop.
Using Linux must be saving them at least tens of millions of dollars....money that could go to hire new employees and offer lower prices than the competition.
Posted by Ralph | July 26, 2008 11:56 PM
One other thing I would like to add since Taylor/TK are the same person living in back of a Van in Deadwood, SD. They or him or her is probably the same person as Chumps and Ralph. It might even be Joe.
Heck, I love accusing people since I know more about anything than anyone here with the exception of you, Marco.
I often imagine that you and I are making out over a fresh install of Linux and taking long walks in the park late at night. So, I don't know if this is appropriate here, but I think we should hook up sometime.
Yes, after all, use Linux boys must stick together.
Posted by The Hand | July 27, 2008 12:45 PM
The most likely guess here is that Taylor/TK is doing all the impersonations, including the one they or it, just did of me.
So Joe Willcox, is there any limits now to what can be said on the comments sections? Are you going allow identity theft?
Posted by The Hand | July 27, 2008 6:08 PM
Actually all I really just want to let everyone know I really love MS products! Sorry for the confusion.
Posted by The Hand | July 27, 2008 6:23 PM
I win! ,I win!
Who is the King?
I am, I am.
I am Neil, TC, Taylor,all them
motherfockers Linux lovers
At the end I winnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha, hahahaha, hahahaha.
Posted by Neil | July 27, 2008 9:28 PM
Joe;
Listen, in the past we didn't agree on everything, and personally I love coming here to make all the Microsoft Shills sound like a bunch of idiots, because after all, they are nothing more than total losers. I'm trying to be nice, but this impersonations have to stop.
I hate Microsoft and everyone who uses it, period. If they have a problem with it, too darn bad. Listen, I tried Microsoft awhile back and I wrote some favorable things and unlike you, I didn't get my laptop so for sometime now I chose Linux. Not just because I didn't get my free laptop, but because I am obviously wiser, smarter, and a higher species of a Geek than the rest.
I also want to make mention that those things that I've said about the Microsoft Shills, I meant them.
_________________________________
@Neil
You sir are an idiot, a complete waste I realize now that you Taylor, TC and Andre are one of the same and you aren't fooling anyone!
Posted by chips | July 27, 2008 9:56 PM
How I got a Windows Vista refund.
http://equiliberate.org/?q=node/3
"So, world, it CAN be done - this is ~34% refund bringing the total cost of my laptop to $399.99+tax. Don't take NO for an answer. Know your rights and enforce them, or you may one day no longer have them."
"This will be my last HP product - I have read Dell customers get OS refunds in a matter of days."
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I have to recognize that this one was cunning, because the one who erroneously named to TK for TC was I. congratulations!
Posted by Marco | July 27, 2008 9:58 PM
@Marco
Thanks dweeb for the comment. Ha, ha, you idiot!
Posted by Neil | July 27, 2008 10:57 PM
@Joe Willcox,
more impersonation Joe. Many of the comments including the last one are not mine. So please, let us know what the rules are here, and maybe delete some posts? Block some addresses?
Posted by chips (the real one) | July 27, 2008 11:14 PM
Joe Willcox,
So no rules Joe Willcox on commenting? Anything goes, is that right? Or is it just for the Softies that can get away with this type of behavior, and everyone else has to tow the line? Whats it going be? Also is it ok to post comments as Joe Willcox too? At some point there must be rules of conduct.
JM says :
"With Windows 7 around the corner, why should businesses even bother to upgrade to Vista?"
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JM is entirely correct, there is no reason whatever to upgrade unless a computer dies beyond repair, and even in that case, perhaps a new motherboard and just reinstall XP, or free Linux. Not only that, but its smarter to to wait for Windows Seven to come out, rather than upgrade now to Vista. Just skip it, Seven will be out soon anyway. The smartest thing is not to wait for Seven, which will just be Vista2, but to start deploying various disto's of Linux on your business machines now, and make the transition to free and stable; Linux. Get the Monkey Boy off your back with all his constant expensive windows upgrade cycles. Get them at distrowatch.com
Posted by chips | July 28, 2008 1:22 PM