Vista Adoption Stymied Despite SP1

New Survey Finds Apple Benefits from “Vista Avoidance” as Heterogeneous Environments Become Increasingly Common

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – July 23, 2008 – KACE™, the leading systems management appliance company, today announced results from a recent survey that revealed 60 percent of the IT administrators polled have no plans to deploy Vista—almost 10 percent more than originally reported in the November 2007 survey on the same topic. In response to concerns about unwanted complexity to their IT environments, 42 percent of IT administrator respondents said they would consider deployment of alternative operating systems, such as Mac OS and Linux, in order to avoid a migration to Vista, and 92 percent said the release of Vista Service Pack 1 has not changed their plans for Vista deployment. The survey results showed the Mac operating system as the most likely alternative operating system to be deployed.

The research, consisting of an online survey with over 1,100 IT manager respondents, was conducted by King Research and commissioned by KACE to gather data about the perceived impact of Vista on IT administration and specifically about operating system adoption strategies in business environments. The research shows that IT departments of all sizes have growing concerns about deploying Vista, and are even choosing to deploy alternative operating systems instead. This trend has lead to a new set of challenges, such as the difficulties derived from managing multiple operating systems and a lack of familiarity with non-Windows alternative operating systems.

“The second version of the Vista Adoption Trends survey clearly demonstrates Microsoft is still fighting an uphill battle with Vista and the release of Vista Service Pack 1 did little to change corporate opinion about the operating system,” said Diane Hagglund of King Research and the survey’s author. “These same IT departments are evaluating alternative methods to stave off Vista deployment with many moving to the Mac operating system instead. This brings up a whole new set of challenges related to managing heterogeneous environments and compounds the importance of systems management devices that deliver a single interface for diverse operating systems.”

A summary of the key findings from the survey include:

  • 60 percent of the survey respondents indicated they have no plans to deploy Vista at this time, up from 53 percent in the 2007 survey;
  • 92 percent indicated Vista Service Pack 1 has not changed their plans for Vista deployment;
  • 65 percent said it is challenging to obtain the expertise needed to manage multiple operating systems, up from 49 percent in November 2007;
  • 83 percent revealed they are concerned about the compatibility of required business software with Vista;
  • 41 percent of the respondents reported it is challenging to secure multiple operating systems, up from 25 percent in November 2007.

Understanding the need to manage complexity within heterogeneous IT environments, KACE offers an appliance-based approach that allows IT administrators to cost-effectively manage a variety of operating systems from the ease of a single management interface. The KBOX™ family of systems management and deployment appliances fulfill all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement, allowing IT departments to save considerable time and money by deploying and managing all types of operating systems.

“This King Research study suggests that businesses continue to hold off on broad-based Windows adoption due to compatibility, performance, and training concerns,” said Rob Meinhardt, co-founder and CEO of KACE. “This delay in Vista adoption is leaving the window open longer for Mac and Linux to sneak onto the corporate desktop.  Consequently, we’re seeing increased demand for our KBOX products to solve cross-platform systems management challenges.”

The full report, titled “Windows Vista Adoption Trends: A Survey of Technology Professionals,” is available at: http://www.kace.com/pdf/AR-King-Vista-Survey-2.php. The original report, conducted in November 2007, is available at
http://www.kace.com/pdf/index_vista_survey.php.

Survey Methodology
An independent database of IT professionals from small, mid-sized, and large IT organizations were emailed and invited to participate in the Web survey. The first survey took place in November 2007 and the second in June 2008. The 1,162 participants in the June 2008 survey were not compensated for participation (nor were they in the November 2008 survey) and represent a wide range of IT functions including hands-on professionals, team managers, and business owners with many participants indicating they had multiple roles within their organizations.

About KACE™
KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day and enjoy the lowest total cost compared to software alternatives.
 
KACE is headquartered in Mountain View, California. To learn more about KACE and its product offerings, please visit http://www.kace.com or call 1-877-MGMT-DONE.

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Editorial contact:
Cathy Wright
Kulesa PR
650.340.1985
cathy@kulesapr.com