Michael Dell: Vista will win out in two years

Despite research that found Vista uptake among businesses is slowing, Michael Dell has predicted that most companies will migrate to the OS within two years.

Dell's chief executive has predicted that most of his company's business customers will migrate to Vista by 2009.

Speaking to journalists at Gartner's ITxpo Symposium in Orlando, Florida last week, Michael Dell said: "We have a number [of business customers] who have gone to Vista, and almost all are planning to go to Vista: some in 2008, and some in 2009. As they take on new IT deployments with new hardware features, Vista will be much better supported."

However, Dell's assertions run contrary to research published earlier in October by market research company Context, which found that Vista sales for business machines were slowing.

Context found that Vista Business accounted for 13 percent of PC sales among European IT distributors in August 2007 -- down from 17 percent the previous month. Meanwhile, XP Professional accounted for 27 percent of PC sales, but it also saw poor growth, with August's figures down by four percent compared to the previous month.

Vista Business is the direct successor to XP Professional.

silicon.com's Gemma Simpson contributed to this article.

ZDNet UK's Tom Espiner reported from London.

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Talkback 7 comments

    You'd hope Anonymous -- 16/10/07

    Mr Dell hopes that this is the case. Within two years there will be dramatic change in the industry, including new players in the market and a better concept other than a 'bloatware' desktop to perform business activity.
    I know for one that Vista is not suitable for many businesses, including the price tag and no compelling reason to change, including also the impact on the environment - businesses will look at alternatives to throwing out PC's just because they dont reach Vista's minimum requirements.
    Personally, I think Mac and Linux and thin clients will take a huge chunk out of Microsofts OS dominance in the workplace.

    Dell, Vista and the environment Paul McKeon @ Dell -- 17/10/07 (in reply to #320088131)

    Everyone has their own opinion of Vista of course but it's worth pointing that out Dell offers Australian customers a choice of XP or Vista. More than half of our platforms, including all of current corporate notebook and desktop lines, can be configured with XP factory installed. But we share the concern that customers upgrading their PCs (for any reason) have options for disposing of the old ones properly. That's why we've led the Australian industry in offering recycling options for all of our customers since 2003 and introduced free recycling on Dell-branded equipment in January this year (shortly before the launch of Vista ;-) Cheers, Paul @ Dell

    How about real choice? Anonymous -- 17/10/07 (in reply to #320088197)

    When do we get a Linux option? Windows will surely die if true competition is allowed.
    I am currently delaying my next laptop purchase because I *will not* purchase Vista. DRM OS: no thank you!

    Linux Paul McKeon @ Dell -- 17/10/07 (in reply to #320088200)

    Good question, I know there's a very strong Linux community in Australia. We already offer options for business customers who want to install their own OS. And for consumers we introduced a number of Dell PCs preloaded with Ubuntu earlier this year. We haven't made a decision about launching these products in Australia but if you're a Linux user who wants to buy them I’d suggest you visit www.dellideastorm.com and add your voice. Cheers, Paul

    Paul, thanks for your comments Chris -- 17/10/07 (in reply to #320088204)

    Without obvious choice all consumers are at a disadvantage. It alarms me that if I visit a store to buy a PC there is no choice but Windows. The linux community in Australia although greatfull for the work Dell has done, would wish for a lot more. A serious offering of linux based PC's with the same level exposure as your windows offering, and also educating the public that there is a choice is something that is severely missing. If anything, this is a great chance for DELL and all consumers.

    Unbundled PCs are the go for real competition Anonymous -- 17/10/07 (in reply to #320088200)

    I read this on Slashdot the other week:

    http://tinyurl.com/2l6hwj

    Seems that the only way we can get real competition Microsoft is if the ACCC steps in.

    Microsoft has a far bigger monopoly than Telstra, but that ACCC sits back and does nothing. Go figure.

    thanks Chris -- 19/10/07 (in reply to #320088236)

    Its a good read.

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