14 DAY TRIAL // 40 millions of Windows Vista sold licenses later, Microsoft is still applauding every success of the operating system, no matter how small. The company's strategy is an integer part of the marketing campaign addressed at the corporate environment. And this is an ecosystem where Microsoft has to battle not only rival solutions, but also corporate mentality, hardware upgrade cycles and slow software migration processes.
Nothing exemplifies the situation better than the trends set by Intel and Dell among others. Paul S. Otellini, president and chief executive officer of Intel Corporation revealed from the get go that the company won't be making the transition to Windows Vista until the first service pack to the operating system is available. U.S. Computer manufacturer Dell, and long time Microsoft partner, announced a similar position with Intel, while security developer Sophos informed that it has no plans whatsoever to migrate to Windows Vista.
At the opposite end there is AMD which has already frozen a Vista gold image for immediate deployment across the company. And a few other exceptions highlighted by Microsoft including Cerner Corp., Charter Communications, Tata Consultancy Services and Continental Airlines.
"Cost-effectiveness is crucial to Continental Airlines," said Eric Craig, managing director of IT Engineering for Continental Airlines. "Windows Vista improves the overall capabilities and efficiency of an IT infrastructure. The richness of the platform reduces the burden on development, the new desktop features make back-office workers more productive, and task-oriented PCs are easier to configure and change as Continental requires. Windows Vista deployment tools alone are saving us 17 percent in manpower costs for PC refresh and repair functions."
Microsoft has gone head over heels to deliver an unprecedented level of support for the corporate tier in order to catalyze the migration to Windows Vista. The Redmond Company has offered a multitude of tools and services associated with streamlining the Vista upgrade process. And the results are starting to show.
"Continental Airlines, the world's fifth largest airline, already has deployed 1,000 Windows Vista-based desktops and is upgrading between 7,000 and 10,000 desktops by the end of the year. Charter Communications provides digital entertainment and communication to more than 5 million homes. The company is upgrading 13,500 computers to Windows Vista because it expects to see great value in the standardized computing environment the new operating system brings," revealed Microsoft also noting that Cerner will deploy Vista on 7,500 mobile machines and that Tata Consultancy Services plans to install the operating system on 2,550 desktops.
Surely these numbers are insignificant in contrast with the 40 million sold copies of Vista at the end of 100 days of availability, an information provided by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at WinHEC 2007 in mid May. But while the numbers are irrelevant, the examples serve to convince additional enterprises to make the swap to Vista.