Microsoft Vista didn't make the grade

Microsoft Vista's first year was not a very good one. Analysts say it did not make the grade in a number of ways. For one thing, it hasn't made the kind of progress anticipated in the enterprise world. "The uptake is much lower than expected," said Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner. "Organizations really seem to be way behind where they said they would be last year." Silver compared the results of a Gartner survey last month on Vista adoption plans with an identical survey taken in October 2006, and concluded that enterprises are 9-12 months behind their original expectations.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with Decisions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, WA research firm, said Vista's deployment plans are stalling because companies realize the difficulties in upgrading existing hardware to Vista. He recommends that companies leave existing operating systems in place on current hardware. "I think you need to be real careful of [Vista's] hardware requirements." He said many companies underestimate what's really needed to drive the OS.

What does the future hold? Who knows. In the last two weeks, Microsoft has touted huge numbers for Vista. It has shipped 88 million copies of the product. But what do customers think? And are CIOs having good experience with Vista, or do they see it as a problem? Let us know.

For more on Vista headaches:
- read this InfoWorld article