XP/Vista SP Blockers to Expire as Vista Surges - Page 2

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However, a different survey from a different firm conducted in the same time frame found that 46 percent of the 700 IT decision makers it polled were waiting for the arrival of Windows 7. That survey was conducted by long-time industry analyst Laura DiDio and her firm, Information Technology Intelligence Corp.

Survey methodologies are often very different, which probably explains the discrepancies between them.

"New industry analyst reports confirm what we’ve said previously, that we're seeing positive indicators that Windows Vista enterprise adoption has moved from the early adoption phase into the mainstream," a Microsoft spokesperson told InternetNews.com in an e-mailed statement.

According to two analysts not involved with either survey, part of the warming trend toward Vista comes from the stability of Vista SP1, the promise of increased reliability with the arrival of SP2, and the proximity of Windows 7, which most observers currently have pegged as during the second half of the year.

"My perception is that the combination of the SP1 update with the device driver support for all the new hardware has made it okay to just go ahead and get Vista," Michael Cherry, operating system analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told InternetNews.com. That would tend to make installing Windows 7 on Vista machines much easier than it was for installing Vista on XP machines.

"A user can say, 'in the interim, I'll use Vista'," Cherry added.

Indeed, for those who have been sitting on the fence for the past two years since Vista launched, part of the problem has been just the passage of time. Most of the hundreds of millions of PCs that are running XP are beginning to reach the end of their useful lives. That provides increasing pressure on IT decision makers.

"They can't wait any longer," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told InternetNews.com. For one thing, hardware makers tend to look toward the future and not to the past, so getting support for XP on new hardware may soon become a serious problem.

Additionally, Enderle cautioned that both surveys were conducted prior to the worst of the economic tailspin hit and so may not accurately reflect the current market environment.

The Future's Up Ahead

Finally, Microsoft Monday announced its Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (Release 2) "Ecosystem Readiness Programs." The program provides tools and resources that its hardware and software partners require in order to assure their own products will be compatible with 7 when it ships.

"The Ecosystem Readiness Program, … provides the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 betas, tools and resources our partners need to build their expertise and understand the opportunities with these products," Mike Nash, corporate vice president for Windows Product Management, said in a statement.

"As we continue to progress toward the release candidate and final version of Windows 7, we want our partners to test their Windows Vista-based products to ensure they run well on Windows 7," he added.