According to new data revealed by Microsoft, the enterprise upgrade to Windows 7 does not have much momentum so far in 2010.

At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 in Washington, D.C., Microsoft Windows corporate vice president Tammi Reller said that 74% of business computers are still running Windows XP. She also said that the average age of the PC is now 4.4 years old, which is the highest number that Microsoft has seen in over a decade.

Naturally, Microsoft spins this as a huge opportunity for the company to make a lot of money by selling copies of Windows 7 to these slow upgraders. CEO Steve Ballmer predicted on Monday that Microsoft would sell 350 million copies of Windows 7 licenses by the end of 2010.

But, if you read between the lines, part of the message here is that Windows 7 adoption has not taken hold yet, and Microsoft is still hustling to convince businesses to upgrade.

Original article by Jason Hiner of Tech Republic

* There will be two major release dates: August 6th and October 22nd.
* TechNet/MSDN subscribers will be able to download the English language version of Windows 7 Release To Manufacturing on August 6th, other languages will be available by October 1st.
* General availability (GA) for everyone else will be on October 22nd.
* Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members will be able to get the English language Release To Manufacturing via the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal on August 16th. Other languages to be available by October 1st.
* Microsoft Action Pack will see the English language Release To Manufacturing by August 23rd, and remaining languages by October 1st.
* Volume License (VL) customers with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7th through the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). Other languages will go online within a couple of weeks.
* Volume License customers without an existing SA license will have to wait until September 1st.
* OEMs will start seeing RTM images about two days after the RTM code is finalized, so that could be by the end of the week.

Yesterday, Microsoft published Knowledge Base article 970789, which provides details of a problem that affects the 32-bit (x86) English-language version of Windows 7 build 7100. The problem, in short, is that the installer incorrectly sets access control lists (ACLs) on the root of the system drive. The longer version is described as follows:

================================

In the English version of Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100) 32-bit Ultimate, the folder that is created as the root folder of the system drive (%SystemDrive%) is missing entries in its security descriptor. One effect of this problem is that standard users such as non-administrators cannot perform all operations to subfolders that are created directly under the root. Therefore, applications that reference folders under the root may not install successfully or may not uninstall successfully. Additionally, operations or applications that reference these folders may fail.

For example, if a folder is created under the root of the system drive from an elevated command prompt, this folder will not correctly inherit permissions from the root of the drive. Therefore, some specific operations, such as deleting the folder, will fail when they are performed from a non-elevated command prompt. Additionally, the following error message appears when the operation fails:

Access is denied.

Furthermore, the missing security descriptor entries protect non-admin file operations directly under the root.

================================

A hotfix is available as an important update that should be delivered and installed automatically by Windows Update, assuming you have set up automatic updates. On one test system that I checked just now, the update had already been installed overnight. On two other systems, the update had been downloaded but was awaiting installation.

The hotfix package fixes the security descriptor of the root of the system drive, but it does not repair applications that are already installed, nor does it affect the permissions of folders that were created after the installation.

If you installed the x64 version of Windows 7, you are apparently unaffected by this issue.

If you haven’t yet installed the Windows 7 RC, it’s important to install this hotfix after you set up Windows and before you install any programs or restore any backed-up data.

This sounds like a pretty serious bug, and I’m surprised that it slipped through into the release candidate.

Original Article From ZDNet

Windows 7 hasn’t even been released yet, but the buzz around it indicates that many individuals are chompin’ at the bit to upgrade as soon as it hits the market.

Despite this enthusiasm, however, much has been made of a recent survey by Dimensional Research. According to the survey, 84% of 1,100 IT professionals surveyed said they don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 7 in the next year, 16% do intend to upgrade in the next 12 months, and 42% expect to upgrade within 12 to 24 months. In addition, 43% said the current economic downturn is one of the reasons they will delay upgrading to Windows 7. That would seem to indicate that improvement in the economy over the next year might change the upgrade numbers. It’s also possible that this month’s discontinuation of mainstream support for Windows XP, which most of the companies are currently using on the desktop, may influence some to upgrade more quickly than they might otherwise.

Sooner or later, it’s likely that most home users and businesses will be upgrading from their current operating system to Windows 7. In this article, we’ll address 10 things you should keep in mind when you begin planning an upgrade to Windows 7.

Do I need to buy new hardware?

Many people equate upgrading the operating system to the need to buy a new computer or, at the very least, add RAM and perhaps a bigger hard drive to their present systems. That’s because traditionally, each new version of Windows has needed more disk space and memory than its predecessor.

Will you need to buy new hardware if you want to use Windows 7? That depends. Microsoft’s recommended hardware specifications for Windows 7 Release Candidate include a 1 GHz processor, at least 1 GB of RAM, DirectX 9.0 support, 16 GB of free disk space, and 128 MB of graphics memory (for Aero). Those requirements are pretty much the same as the published system specs for Vista Home Premium/Business/Enterprise/Ultimate (the only difference is that the Vista specs list 15 GB of disk space). Many beta testers report that Windows 7 runs faster on their low-powered machines (512 MB of RAM) than does Vista.

Rule of thumb: If your computer is powerful enough to run Vista acceptably, it will probably run Windows 7 as well or better. If you’re currently using XP on a computer with less than 512 MB of RAM or a processor that’s slower than 800 MHz, you’ll need to upgrade your hardware.

Can I upgrade directly from XP?

Many folks who are still running Windows XP want to know whether they can upgrade to Windows 7 without losing all their preferences and settings. The answer is, well, sort of. Microsoft is not providing a direct upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. An in-place upgrade is available only if you’re running Vista SP1 or later. If you’re running XP, even if your hardware is sufficient, you’ll have to do a clean installation of Windows 7. However, you can use the Microsoft Deployment Tool 2010, which includes the User State Migration Tool, to transfer your user settings for the desktop and applications to the new Windows 7 installation.

Can I do a Vista in-place upgrade?

If you’re running Windows Vista, note that you must install SP1 or SP2 before you can do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7. If you try to upgrade a Vista computer that doesn’t have a service pack installed, you’ll get a message informing you that “to upgrade to Windows 7, the computer needs to be running Vista with Service Pack 1.”

Can I upgrade from Windows 7 beta to final release?

Many people are currently running either the public beta of Windows 7 (build 7000) that was released in January or one of the subsequent builds that has been leaked to various peer-to-peer sites since then. Many of them are wondering whether they’ll be able to do an in-place upgrade to the RC and/or final release.

Microsoft has recommended that beta testers go back to Vista and upgrade from it to the final release, but that’s something many will resist. Another option is to do a clean install, but again, many folks are using Windows 7 now on their mission-critical desktops and notebooks, and they don’t want to have to start all over. In deference to them, Microsoft representatives have said that it will be possible to upgrade from the beta, but it won’t be easy; it will involve a number of steps. The installer will tell you “no” when you attempt to do an upgrade from an earlier build of Windows 7. There’s a procedure to bypass the version check so you can do the upgrade anyway.

Microsoft asks that you do this only if you “absolutely require” it. It’s likely that you’ll have a much more stable OS if you do a clean installation.

Will there be driver compatibility issues?

A big complaint about Windows Vista was driver incompatibility. Too many people upgraded their OS from XP to Vista only to find that a favorite peripheral, such as a printer or scanner, would no longer work. Vista also introduced a new display driver model, WDDM, which required video card vendors to write completely different display and video miniport drivers. And security enhancements in Vista affected how the OS handles drivers. Even though Vista was in development for five years, many hardware vendors did not have Vista drivers ready for all of their products when the OS was released.

Now that Vista has been out for more than two years, most hardware vendors have updated their drivers to work with it. Because Windows 7 uses the same driver models as Vista, the vast majority of hardware devices that work with Vista will work with Windows 7. For Vista drivers that won’t install on Windows 7, you can usually solve the problem by installing in Compatibility Mode. To do this, right-click the driver’s setup file, select Properties, click the Compatibility tab, enable compatibility mode, and select the appropriate operating system from the drop-down box.

Will there be application compatibility issues?

As with drivers, most applications that run on Windows Vista will run on Windows 7. You may need to enable Compatibility Mode on some applications, as described above. Interestingly, some applications that ran on XP and would not run on Vista will run on Windows 7. Microsoft reported in March that it had identified at least 30 old applications that will run on Windows 7 although they failed to do so on Vista. These are being referred to as “rescued applications.”

What if I have apps that won’t run on Windows 7, even in Compatibility Mode?

There may be some XP applications that you can’t get to run on Windows 7, even using Compatibility Mode. In the past, that might have been considered a reason not to upgrade. However, you may still be able to enjoy all the benefits of Windows 7 without giving up your favorite apps, thanks to a new compatibility feature called XP Mode. XPM is a host-based virtualization solution that will reportedly be made available at no cost to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.

XPM includes a fully licensed copy of XP that runs in a virtual machine on your Windows 7 computer. This differs from just installing XP on Virtual PC or VMware. The virtualized applications appear like local applications on the Windows 7 desktop because they’re published to the Win 7 host operating system. With XPM, you will be able to run any XP application on Windows 7.

Should I wait for Windows 7 release to buy a new computer?

Some individual computer users may be wondering if they should wait until Windows 7 is released to buy a new computer, to ensure that the system will work with the new OS. An advantage of waiting is that after Windows 7 is released, you’ll be able to buy a computer that has it preinstalled, so you won’t need to upgrade.

However, if you need a new system now, there is no need to suffer with an outdated, slow, or defective system. A Vista system purchased now will in all likelihood run Windows 7 with no problems. But even though you don’t need to wait until the final release, you might want to wait until June 1 to make your purchase. Buying a Vista system after that date will make you eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade license. (This applies to Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate editions.)

Which edition of Windows 7 should I choose?

A big complaint about Vista is that there are too many editions to choose from. Windows XP offered only two retail editions: Professional and Home. (XP Media Center edition and Tablet PC edition were available only to OEMs.) But Vista offers a large and sometimes confusing array of options: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. (Starter is available only in “emerging markets,” and Enterprise is available only to volume licensing customers.)

Windows 7 will also have both Home Basic and Home Premium editions. The equivalent of Vista Business edition will revert to the Professional moniker. As far as we can tell, Enterprise and Ultimate editions will be the same, except that the former is sold only through volume licensing. There will also be a Starter edition, which will be installed on low-powered netbooks.

A major change is that each successive Windows 7 edition will include all features of the lower cost ones. Many Vista Business and Enterprise users were annoyed that they didn’t get Windows Media Center, DVD Maker, and other consumer-oriented features that came in Vista Home Premium. Since Home Premium couldn’t join a domain and lacked support for EFS and some other business-oriented features, if you wanted both, you had to buy Ultimate. Windows 7 Pro will include everything that’s in Windows 7 Home Premium, and Enterprise will include everything that’s in Business edition. Companies will be able to easily block the consumer features when they deploy Pro (or Enterprise) on their networks.

Most people will find that either Home Premium or Pro will fit their needs. If you need BitLocker or the ability to boot from a VHD, you’ll want Enterprise or Ultimate.

What are the main reasons to upgrade to Windows 7?

Why upgrade to Windows 7 rather than stay with Windows XP or Vista? If you’re still running XP, an important consideration is the fact that Microsoft ended mainstream support for XP on April 14. Although critical security updates will still be provided at no cost until 2014, additional support is provided only to customers who pay for a support contract with Microsoft.

Windows 7 also provides the improved graphical user interface (Aero) you get with Vista. Search is improved, and consumers with children will appreciate the parental controls feature. The most important reason to upgrade from XP is security; both Vista and Windows 7 provide much better security.

If you’re using Vista, some of the new features and functionality you’ll get with Windows 7 include a more streamlined GUI with a more functional taskbar that features Jump Lists; new and more sophisticated versions of Paint, Wordpad, and Calculator; easier windows management with snap-to docking; elimination of the sidebar (while maintaining support for gadgets); and new built-in troubleshooting tools. While Windows 7 still focuses on security, User Account Control (UAC) is far less in your face and more user-configurable than in Vista. Windows 7 also has built-in support for touch (if you have a touchscreen monitor). Keyboard fans will find a number of new keyboard shortcuts to help you avoid use of the mouse in many situations.

For administrators, Windows 7 offers new tools such as PowerShell v2, improved Group Policy, and VHD image management and deployment.

The problem isn’t that netbooks are cannibalizing Windows sales (they aren’t, especially when you take into account that Windows-powered netbooks out-sell Linux models by a significant margin), the problem is down to the fact that Moore’s Law has finally caught up with Microsoft and the OS is rapidly becoming one of the most expensive components of a new PC. And as hardware prices continue to fall (which they will), this is only going to get worse for Microsoft.

The current raft of netbooks are modest in terms of power, but are yet very capable systems based around the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 1GB of RAM, but they are perfectly capable of running Windows 7 Ultimate and several applications simultaneously. OK, games and resource-heavy apps such as Photoshop are a no-go, but apart from those sort of apps there’s not much that a netbook can’t handle. A year from now and these devices will have even more horsepower at their disposal. By the time that Microsoft is thinking about releasing the successor to Windows 7 these netbooks will be at a point where they could well serve as desktop replacements for many people (all you need is a dock and a monitor, keyboard and mouse).

When it comes to netbooks, Microsoft has, without a doubt, been caught off-guard. Currently the Redmond giant is having to license the older, cheaper Windows XP for installation on netbook devices because Vista isn’t a viable option because it’s too bloated to work properly. Once Windows 7 hits OEM PC (probably by August of this year) Microsoft will make available the cheaper “Starter” edition of Windows in both developed countries and developing nations (previously this edition was only available in developing nations). But there’s a big problem with the “Starter” edition, and that is the built-in “three applications running at any one time” limit. Rather than tearing down walls, when it comes to low cost systems such as netbooks and low-end notebooks, Microsoft is putting in place arbitrary partitions in order to protect revenues and sell the higher-priced editions of Windows. In effect, what Microsoft is doing is putting in place a multitasking tax on users where users will need to pay more to run more than three applications.

By now you’ve probably caught on to the fact that I’m no fan of application limit that Microsoft has imposed on the “Starter” edition. You’d be right. I can accept different features being made available in different editions, but to go as far as to control the number of third-party applications that can be run at any one time is a step too far. What next, an arbitrary limit on CPU horsepower? Disk space? Not only is this an example of the fact that Microsoft has yet to catch on to the fact that the OS is increasingly becoming irrelevant on a modern PC as more users turn to cloud services, but if Apple ever enters the netbook game then you’ll see this particular “feature” being used to hammer home the advantages of a “one size fits all” Mac OS.

My guess is that in the end no one (in particular customers and probably the OEMs themselves who will be trying to sell these machines) will be happy with the limits of the “Starter” edition on netbooks and low-priced notebooks. OEMs will negotiate a cheaper Home Premium license (using Linux as a bargaining chip) and “Starter” will become a non-starter. A cheaper Home Premium license for the netbook will mean cheaper Home Premium license for the desktop. This is good for consumers, good for OEMs, but bad for Microsoft.

Orignal Article: ZDNet

Someday, someway, your organization is going to have to make a decision regarding the next operating system deployment. Do you know the facts of the current debate? Don’t you think you should?

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It seems like everywhere you turn on the Web these days, there’s another article bad-mouthing Microsoft Windows Vista and telling you to stay with Windows XP — arguing that XP is the greatest Microsoft OS ever. It also seems like there are just as many articles praising Windows 7 as our OS savior — and it’s barely even a twinkle in Bill Gate’s eye at this point. While reading these types of articles recently, I began to recall other points in the history of Microsoft operating systems and to draw parallels with what happened then with what is happening today with Vista.

Windows Vista vs. Windows XP

As you know, Windows XP has been around quite a long time now. In fact, if you calculate the duration between the official release date and the date on which Microsoft officially stopped general licensing to OEMs and terminated retail sales of the operating system, you get six years, eight months, and six days. These dates and the other milestones in between are shown in the timeline in Figure A.

The Windows XP timeline

While this timeline looks rather short, a lot can happen in six years, eight months, and six days. If you can remember that far back, you know that in between the original release date and the SP1 release date, Microsoft caught a lot of flak for Windows XP’s flakiness. When Microsoft released SP1 and touted it as a vast improvement, many users reported major problems with the update. (Don’t remember? Just Google “XP SP1 Problems.”)

In between SP1 and SP2, malware popped up everywhere, and Microsoft caught a lot more flak for Windows XP’s inadequate security mechanisms. When Microsoft released SP2 and touted its enhanced security features, such as the Windows Firewall, which was enabled by default, there was a major uproar as the firewall seemed to “break” a ton of applications. (Don’t remember? Just Google “XP SP2 Problems.”)

In between SP2 and SP3, the majority of the problems with SP2 were worked out and other improvements were added to the OS as patches and fixes delivered by Windows Update. In that time, Windows XP became the great OS that it is today — the OS that many people swear by. It didn’t happen overnight; in fact, it took a little over four years.

The point that I’m trying to make is that I think that it is unfair to compare Vista at this early point in its lifecycle to XP, which at this point in its lifecycle is an extremely mature OS. All the kinks have been worked out, and it is able to hum along perfectly. If you really want to compare today’s Vista to XP, then compare it to XP SP1. When you do, you’ll see that Vista has gone through the same type of growing pains that XP went through and that Vista’s growing pains at this stage really aren’t as major as XP’s were.

Furthermore, if you take a look at Vista’s timeline and calculate the duration between Vista’s official release date and the proposed SP2 release date of April 2009, you get about two years, three months — shooting at April 30 as a potential release date (Figure B).

Windows Vista timeline

If you compare this Vista timeline to the calculated duration between XP’s release date and the SP2 release date, you get two years, nine months, twelve days. That puts Vista about six months ahead of XP at this stage of the game. And if the relatively mild disruptions caused by SP1 are any indication of how well SP2 will go, then Windows Vista will eventually become a great OS too. It won’t happen overnight, but it will be closer to three years as opposed to the four or so years that it took XP.

Windows Vista vs. Windows 7

When it comes to Windows 7, I’m reminded of the story of Microsoft’s first attempt at a GUI windowing system, called Interface Manager. In their 1992 book titled Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire about Bill Gates and the making of Microsoft, James Wallace and Jim Erikson describe that in 1981 Microsoft first began working on Interface Manager. After about a year and a half into the development of Interface Manager, Gates realized that other software companies were developing similar GUI programs for the IBM PC. One such product was called VisiOn from VisiCorp.

Not wanting to lose out to VisiOn, in January of 1983, Gates let it be known to the computer press that Microsoft would ship its product before VisiCorp could ship VisiOn. However, the back story was that Gates had made this promise weeks before a prototype of Interface Manager had even run on an IBM PC. Even so, the story goes that Gates spent months selling computer manufacturers and software developers on his vision of the GUI. Somewhere along the line Interface Manager became known as Windows.

In October of 1983, VisiCorp announced that it planned to start shipping VisiOn, and at around the same time Quarterdeck announced that it was building a GUI called DESQ. To steal some of the thunder back, Gates immediately orchestrated the formal announcement of Windows — even though that actual product was not really ready. Apparently Gates had learned from IBM that one way to prevent potential customers from moving to a competitor’s product was to announce that your company was working on something even better. Soon afterward, the term “vaporware” was coined by the folks at InfoWorld to describe this marketing technique of announcing a product before it actually exists.

Now, we’ve all read stories about the promise of Windows 7 and we’ve seen some very nice screen shots; but is Windows 7 real? Sure, Microsoft is working on Vista’s successor, but is it just vaporware at this point in time? Is the Windows 7 announcement just designed to prevent us from defecting to Apple and to keep us hanging on to Windows while Microsoft fixes up Vista SP2? Based on the story about Interface Manager, it is a very real possibility.

What’s your take?

Regardless of whether Windows 7 is vaporware, Vista is real and I believe that based on the level of improvements that we’ve seen so far, Vista is going to get better and better, and before we know it, Vista will be a great operating system. And when Windows 7 does come out, chances are good that we’ll start this whole process over again — there will be lots of articles bad-mouthing Windows 7 and telling you to stay with Vista. Then, we’ll start hearing about Windows 8.

What’s your take on the notion of Vista vs. XP and Vista vs. 7? Do you think that Vista SP1 is better than XP SP1? Are you waiting for Vista SP2? Do you think that Vista SP2 will be better than XP SP2?

Original Article Found Here

Microsoft also laid out a road map for the release of Windows 7 and handed out a pre-beta version to developers at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC), where it also demonstrated new features in a keynote address Tuesday.

The first public beta of the OS will be available early next year, and subsequent test releases and release candidates will follow based on that feedback, said Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live at Microsoft.

Windows 7 is still targeted for release three years after Vista, he added. This would put its business release in late 2009 and general availability at the end of January 2010 if the OS remains on schedule.

In his keynote, Sinofsky said Microsoft is learning its lessons from Vista, which was widely criticized by users and the press, and spoofed famously in humorous television advertisements by competitor Apple.

Sinofsky acknowledged that some of the criticism was deserved, particularly around Microsoft’s lack of preparing its hardware, software and peripheral partners for Vista’s release, even though it was more than five years in the making.

Early Vista users experienced incompatibility with applications and found that devices and peripherals would not work with the OS because drivers weren’t available upon the release of the OS.

Microsoft won’t repeat this mistake with Vista, Sinofsky said, and because the OS kernel — or its underlying code base — is the same as the one in Vista and Windows Server 2008, all of the devices and applications that work with those OSes should also run on Windows 7.

“All of this device and compatibility work will pay off in Windows 7,” he said.

Microsoft also will tweak the User Account Control feature (UAC), which was new in Vista, so it will be less of an inconvenience and work more efficiently for users, Sinofsky said.

UAC prevents users without administrative privileges from making unauthorized changes to a PC. But because of how it was set up in Vista, it can prevent even authorized users on the network from being able to access applications and features they should normally have access to.

UAC did this through pop-up windows, which also were spoofed by Apple in television ads because Vista users reported they appeared so frequently, even when users were performing authorized tasks.

Sinofsky acknowledged that Microsoft “went a little too far with UAC,” but as a result the Windows client OS is now more secure. In Windows 7, Microsoft will focus on the security aspects of UAC but will ensure it is not an invasive feature for users, he said.

During Tuesday’s keynote, Microsoft showed off some new features in Windows 7, including a streamlined view of all the files and folders contained not only on a user’s PC, but also any other PCs on networks that the users are allowed access to.

This feature is called Libraries, and it will improve desktop search in Windows 7 by allowing users to search more comprehensively across PC folders than ever before, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft also changed its Gadgets feature, another new Vista feature. Gadgets are mini-applications that give users quick access to information, such as stock prices or weather, with icons that users in Windows 7 will be able to move around the desktop. In Vista, gadget icons were confined to a task bar.

Perhaps the sexiest new Windows 7 feature demonstrated Tuesday was its touchscreen interface, which lets people use their fingertips and small hand gestures to control applications on their PCs.

Microsoft demonstrated how touchscreen controls can replace the mouse for things like opening the taskbar and choosing a Windows Explorer window. If a user opens a folder with photos in it in Windows Folder, they can scroll through those photos using their fingers, and drag a photo into a Windows Paint application window and draw directly on the photo.

Original Article

During a brief discussion about operating systems, Shen plainly told the site, “We don’t plan on putting Vista on any of the Eee PCs. I think in the future in the second half of next year we will put Windows 7 on Eee PCs. For now it will be Linux and XP and then Windows 7 and not do Vista.” In other words, Windows 7 systems should be out in consumers’ hands some time next year — a little sooner than the 2010 general availability time frame Microsoft has often suggested — and Eee PCs will get the latest-and-greatest OS release.

Shen revealed a few interesting OS-related details in the interview, too. Laptop Magazine asked if Asus was seeing higher return rates for Linux-powered netbooks, to which Shen replied, “I think the return rate for the Eee PCs are low but I believe the Linux and Windows have similar return rates. We really separate the products into different user groups. A lot of users like the Windows XP, but in Europe a lot of people want the Linux option.”

Interestingly, Shen also said Asus will introduce Windows XP-based Eee PCs with an “easy mode” desktop this quarter. On Linux-powered Eees, the “easy mode” takes the shape of a tile-based desktop with tabs and shortcuts to common applications. Users will reportedly be able to switch back to the “full” operating system if they want, though.

Original Article Written By:

Cyril Kowaliski of The Tech Report

First, Ballmer defended Vista’s honor as he had at last year’s Gartner’s powwow.

“The adoption rate of Vista is faster than the adoption rate was of XP two years in,” said Ballmer, who noted that there were issues with compatibility. “We had a great success with security and starting to see a ramp with adoption.”

MacDonald countered with Gartner survey data that 61 percent of respondents are thinking about skipping Vista. Ballmer said that Microsoft would be ready for that outcome too. Mentioning Windows 7 – he quipped about the creative naming convention of using just “7″ – he indicated that Microsoft would be ready for folks that want to skip Vista. In fact, he said Windows 7 would be compatible with Vista.

“Our next release of Windows will be compatible with Vista. The key is let’s get on with it. We’ll be ready when you want to deploy Windows 7.”

Ballmer was asked why Windows 7 is considered a major release instead of just the second revision of Vista. His reply: “It’s not minor because it’s a lot more work than a minor release. It’s a major release.”

Ballmer also noted that Windows 7 will improve the operating system shell. “Windows 7 will be Vista, but a lot better,” he said, noting cleanness of user interface. Is this fit and finish improvement? Gartner analysts kept referring to Windows 7 as a Release Candidate 2.

Another key question: Given the economic environment, why upgrade to Vista?

“If people want to wait they really can,” said Ballmer “but I’d definitely deploy Vista.”

More than half (58 percent) of businesses using Microsoft technology are “exploiting” Windows XP, compared to just four percent for Vista, according to research by the Corporate IT Forum (Tif).

Tif also found that 35 percent of organisations described themselves as “not yet interested” in Vista.

The operating system (OS) that most people appear to be developing or piloting is XP, with 12 percent of businesses saying they were doing so, compared to five percent for Vista.

More businesses (30 percent) said they’re currently investigating or analysing Microsoft’s next scheduled OS, Windows 7, than Vista (14 percent).

In contrast, seven percent of businesses said they’re still exploiting Windows 2000, although 19 percent said they are currently replacing or “sunsetting” it.

In April, research revealed that Vista uptake among businesses had been slow during 2007, although a quarter of businesses said they planned to upgrade in 2008.

The main reason given by Tif members for not moving to Vista was a lack of business requirement for doing so.

Microsoft’s latest browser, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is undergoing a similar struggle for adoption, with a fifth of respondents saying they’re not yet interested in the newer version of the app.

Almost two-thirds of businesses surveyed (65 percent) said they are exploiting IE6, compared to four percent for IE7. However, 14 percent said they are currently piloting IE7, with the same proportion using it in isolation.

Almost a quarter (23 percent) said they are analysing and investigating IE8, which is currently available in beta form.

The full results of the survey can be found on the Tif website.