Market research firm Context has released statistics showing that the uptake of Windows Vista Business Edition is slowing in European countries. According to the report, Vista Business accounted for 17 percent of total unit PC sales in July, but that number fell to 13 percent in August. Context surveyed European IT vendors for their numbers.
Windows XP Professional, Microsoft's most popular operating system for enterprises, saw a slight drop from 31 percent in July to 27 percent in August. The remaining Windows systems that made any sort of mark were Vista Basic and Vista Home Premium, which combined for 36 percent market share, and XP Home and XP Media Center, which combined for a 9 percent share in August. Context did not release statistics for non-Windows desktops.
Context's numbers show little change in Vista's adoption. Vista Business' market share is only half of XP's market share; however, this could be accounted for by more European companies using volume licensing to install Windows Vista Enterprise, or for that matter, Windows XP Professional. And, in general, it can be expected that there will be less Vista Business sales than XP Pro sales due to the different flavors of Vista, most of which are more aptly suited for home users than Vista Business. XP Pro, on the other hand, was a worthy upgrade even for home users when compared to XP Home.
With the one-year anniversary of Windows Vista's release to enterprises coming shortly, the operating system has received mixed reviews from IT administrators. Some have praised Vista's security features while others have bemoaned Vista's lack of driver and software compatibility. In 2008, Microsoft will be holding its breath, hoping that the release of Service Pack 1 will bring in a slew of new business.
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