Microsoft Vista has suffered one embarrassing blow after another: people were shunning it, people were returning to XP, and so on. It seems that Vista is gradually gaining ground, however, and according to a new study, people are somewhat pleased with the results.
CDW‘s Windows Vista Tracking Poll found that about 58 percent of “IT decision makers” who were using Vista had either a somewhat or very favorable opinion of it. Another 20 percent of respondents weighed in somewhere within the neutral range of feelings.
Not bad, eh? These numbers certainly imply that a lot of upgrades will be taking place, and CDW’s stats seem to back the idea. The company states, “The final phase of the year-long study finds Windows Vista gaining traction in the mainstream business market, with 48 percent of respondents stating that their organization is using or evaluating Windows Vista – up from 29 percent in the previous poll taken in February 2007 and from 12 percent in the first poll taken in October 2006.”
Vista still doesn’t have a huge fan base, though; there’s no getting around that. The fact that anyone is impressed by a “using or evaluating” rate of less than 50 percent, and that 22 percent of IT decision makers who are using Vista retain either a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of it, is not good for Microsoft.
Given this split, service packs and future releases look likely to remain a turning point in the debate.
