Application Development Trends, 18/02/2008:
Roughly half (53 percent) of respondents said that they "have no plans to deploy Vista at this time." Other plans for Vista included installing it for testing (18 percent), new machines only (14 percent) and other uses (two percent). Just 13 percent said they planned to be fully deployed on Vista.
Glyn Moody's "Open..." Blog, 18/02/2008:
In the face of this evident reluctance by companies to stay on the upgrade treadmill and meekly to adopt the latest Windows version, I expect that Microsoft will bring forward its plans for a new Windows. Perhaps this time it could concentrate on making a lean system that actually delivers some value to users, and not just to Microsoft's chums in the content industries through to its non-optional and Draconian DRM “features”.
Perhaps Glyn is right but is it that easy for them to write off Windows Vista (like Windows Me) and start the marketing push around the next version? Perhaps.
An interesting thought is whether Microsoft really sees a long-term future in the Windows OS anyway?
Their aggressive pursuit of Yahoo! may be a signal that the answer is 'No'.
With more credible competition out there, the margins in the desktop computing market just aren't what they used to be.
Why gamble millions/billions of dollars on the uncertain future of another incarnation of Windows when you can take a cut on somebody elses development work (e.g. Xandros on the Asus Eee) and attempt to capitalise on your online presence to sell more advertising?
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