Despite all of the bad press that the operating system has been receiving since its widespread release in January, Windows Vista has managed to sell an astonishing 40 million copies in just a few short months. As we all know, however, not many businesses are buying the latest version of Windows, waiting for the OS to mature in terms of both security and third-party support. It's likely that a large percentage of Vista sales thus far have been consumers, many of whom did not have a choice when purchasing a new OEM PC.

Trends notwithstanding, some enterprises have actually decided to deploy Vista--software vendor VanDyke Software and research firm Amplitude Research attempted to find out why. In their report, the "Fourth Annual Enterprise Security Survey," they asked Vista-using enterprises to detail what prompted their deployment. The number 1 reason? A perception that the OS is more secure than previous versions of Windows.

It's quite easy to dismiss this belief as being the result of Microsoft's marketing efforts--after all, the major .ANI exploit proved that the OS is anything but invincible. Still, a number of core technologies in Vista--ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization), safe structure exception handlers, a new heap manager--do seem to be improvements on Windows XP, at least as far as certain attacks are concerned. Microsoft has tooted its own horn regarding Vista's security for a while now but it might be a while before the majority of enterprises are ready to listen.

For more on the survey:
- see this eWeek article