Vista: Whose ‘reality’ do you believe?

Forrester Research issued new study results today claiming that 18 months after release, “Vista is still struggling to gain a foothold in large companies.” Forrester called Vista the “new Coke.”

Forrester said that Vista use remains in the single digits (“just under nine percent according to Forrester’s month-by-month desk-top analysis of 50,000 of our enterprise clients across 2,300 companies. That’s up from six percent in January of this year, but far short of the 87 percent penetration for Windows XP.”)

Meanwhile, Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President for Online Services and Windows Business Group, told FAM attendees today that Vista’s uptake among business users is solid. He said Vista enterprise sales were up 20 percent and renewal rates for Software Assurance among business users were greater than 80 percent. (Not surprisingly, there were no stats in Veghte’s presentation about what percentage of business users are downgrading to XP. Read the full story on All About Microsoft

Linux is easier to install than XP

When you buy a new PC today, unless you hunt down a Linux system or you buy a Mac, you’re pretty much stuck with Vista. Sad, but true.

So, when I had to get a new PC in a hurry, after one of my PCs went to the big bit-ranch in the sky with a fried motherboard, the one I bought, a Dell Inspiron 530S from my local Best Buy came pre-infected with Vista Home Premium. Read the full article on Practical-Tech.Com

One customer’s nightmare getting a refund on Vista.

My laptop was stolen, so I went down to Best Buy and picked up an HP dv6815nr since it was on sale for $599.99+tax. After powering it up, I was confronted by the Microsoft Windows Vista EULA and the HP EULA.

If you take the time to read the Microsoft EULA it is disturbing to say the least. But I won’t get into that here – many others have bashed this EULA to bits. Notice that there is no option to not accept their terms – you agree, or else… Or else what? I stared at the screen, and decided it was time to take the leap to Linux.

I found an 800 number on the HP website and made Phone Call #1 Read the full story on Equiliberate.Org

From Win32 to Cocoa: a Windows user’s conversion to Mac OS X—Part III

 

“…All things considered, Apple is offering an attractive platform. The APIs are robust, the tools are good (and getting better), the design philosophy is coherent, and the platform as a whole has a direction. The company will continue to improve and refine the experience for users and developers alike.

But it’s not without some regret that I move away from Windows. There are good things that come out of Microsoft. I like Visual Studio a lot, I think Office 2007 is fantastic, and there are parts of the .NET platform that could be very good. I think Microsoft could—and should—do better.” Read the full article on ArsTechnica.Com

Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert

Software engineer Satoshi Nakajima, the lead architect of Microsoft’s Windows 95, picked up a Mac for the first time two years ago.

He was so impressed, he says he’ll never touch a PC again.

Satoshi loves Apple products so much, he started a company in April, Big Canvas, to develop for Apple’s iPhone platform full-time.

“We have chosen iPhone as the platform to release our first product (for) several reasons,” explains his company’s website. “We love Apple products… You need love to be creative.”

Based in Bellevue, WA – right next to Microsoft’s home turf of Redmond – Satoshi spent nearly 14 years at Microsoft, serving as the software architect of Windows 95 and 98. He also oversaw the development of Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0. While at Microsoft, he developed the third largest portfolio of intellectual property of any employee at the company, according to his bio. Read the full story on CultOfMac.Com

Vista: Victim of Enterprise Malaise

Windows Vista probably deserves a break, but it won’t be getting one from Major—what Microsoft would call—milestones aren’t driving enterprises to radically change their Vista adoption plans. Even I’m surprised. I expected the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or the end of Windows XP OEM sales to mean something for Vista adoption. Nope.

If Vista were a person, it might have an insecurity complex from all the rejection—and for good reason. Not since Windows Me has a Microsoft operating system seen such cool market reception. Based on a recent eWEEK survey of more than 400 IT decision makers, enterprises aren’t lessening their resistance, even when there is good reason. Read the full article on Microsoft-Watch.Com

Vista: DOA in the Enterprise

The year-to-year, or wave-to-wave, surveys are yet another dismal pronouncement on the state of Vista adoption among businesses. The numbers are grim, and there’s not much spin I could put on them, even if I were so inclined. I’m not. The data should always tell the story-and there’s a whopper here.

The really bad news for Microsoft: the number of business PCs running Windows XP increased from 2007 to 2008-three times the increase in the percentage of PCs running Vista.

Perhaps worse: The majority of businesses waiting for Vista-meaning those running older Windows versions-migrated to XP instead. Microsoft had counted on Windows 2000 and older versions to go to Vista. The newest Windows saw some conversion, but XP got much more.

Windows Vista Adoption

Worse still: By the end of 2008, the majority of businesses will have just 9 percent of their PCs running Vista. The number only rises to 28 percent in 2010.

Welcome to the world of continued Windows XP dominance. Read the full article on Microsoft-Watch.Com

Mac OS X market share surges 32% in one year

Apple Inc.’s operating system market share has increased by nearly 32% in the last year, according to data collected by an Internet metrics company.

Last month, Apple’s Mac OS X accounted for 7.94% of the operating systems powering computers that accessed the 40,000 Web sites Net Applications monitors for its clients, the company reported yesterday. A year ago, Mac OS X’s usage share stood at 6.03%. Read the full story on ComputerWorld.Com