1st
Windows’ enterprise adoption declined in 2007, with the gains going to Linux and Mac OS. Vista is a bust.
Forrester published the data on March 27, but only released it publicly today. Forrester surveyed a whopping 50,000 users at over 2,300 large to very large enterprises throughout 2007. 2007 Operating System Adoption Windows’ enterprise adoption declined 3.7 percent, going from 98.6 percent in January to 94.9 percent in December. Mac OS gained 3 percent, going from 1.2 to 4.2 percent in the same time frame. Linux gained 0.5 percent in 2007. Adoption of Windows XP held fairly steady, hovering around 90 percent of enterprises. Windows Vista ended the year at 6.3 percent. While Windows’ usage declined, “Microsoft’s monopoly remains undisputed,” wrote Forrester analyst Thomas Mendel. He also cautioned about benefits to Apple: “While 2007 was a big year for Apple, with its enterprise share growing threefold to 4.2 percent, uptake remains limited to enthusiasts and small workgroups. IT departments crave standardization, and Macs pose too many problems for IT departments. The verdict for enterprise-focused vendors is clear: Unless your market is a niche business group, Windows is the only desktop you need support.”