Organizations Ban Windows Vista Upgrades

The outcome does not look promising for the market performance of Windows Vista. At least not until Microsoft will release the first service pack for the operating system. Vista has had two separate launches, one on November 30, 2006, dedicated to the Redmond Company's Software Assurance customers via volume licensing, and the second on January 30, 2007. However, the market share that Vista has managed to gather at the end of February fails to accurately reflect the availability of the operating system.

One of the explanations for this status quo is the fact that large companies and organizations have literally banned upgrades to Windows Vista. Two such examples are Intel and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini revealed that his company will only upgrade to Windows Vista after Microsoft makes available Service Pack 1. Currently, the Redmond Company plans to release the first service pack for Windows Vista by the end of 2007. Otellini underlined the generalization of Intel's strategy. Apparently, not only Intel is waiting for Vista SP1 in order to make the swap from older versions of Windows. "I know of no organization that is going to adopt it before Service Pack 1 is out - that's in the second half of this year - and that includes us. Starting in the second half of this year we'll do a modest deployment, and continue into next year. That's the large company approach for all the people I've talked to," Otellini said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is another negative example for the adoption of Windows Vista. But not only, as upgrades to the 2007 office System and to Internet Explorer 7 have also been forbidden. "This establishes an indefinite moratorium until further notice on desktop/laptop computer software upgrades to Microsoft Vista, Office 2007 and Internet Explorer version 7," stated DOT in a memo. "Microsoft Vista, Office 2007 and Internet Explorer may be acquired for testing purposes only."