Survey says business customers migrating to Windows 2000
By Bloomberg News
December 4, 2000, 2:10 p.m. PT
REMOND, Wash.--Microsoft has been successful in getting customers to buy the new version of its
computer operating system for businesses, Windows 2000, to replace the older Windows NT system,
research firm IDC said.
In the fourth quarter, Microsoft will ship 1.7 million more copies of Windows 2000 than of Windows NT, IDC
estimates. Windows 2000, released in February, could account for almost 71 percent of total shipments of
Windows for business computers and servers for 2001.
Facing slowing sales of personal computers, Microsoft is pinning its hopes
for growth on software to run business computers and servers that power
Web sites and corporate networks. The company has called Windows 2000
its most ambitious product ever and a "bet-the-company" product.
Adoption of Windows 2000 for workstations, or business PCs connected to
a network, is going faster than the version of the software designed for
servers, IDC said. Businesses often take a while to replace the more
expensive and complicated servers and their software.
Analysts and investors are looking for signs of faster acceptance of the
pricier Windows 2000 Server version, which costs $1,199 in retail stores,
compared with $319 for the workstation version.
IDC expects a jump in Windows 2000 Server shipments in December, the
final month of the company's fiscal second quarter. IDC expects Windows
2000 Server will account for about 35 percent of all shipments of Windows
for server computers in December, compared with 16 percent for all of 2000.
In 2001, it will account for 56 percent of new shipments.
Al Gillen, research manager for systems software at IDC, said more
companies will switch to Windows 2000 over the next 12 to 18 months,
even though the product was released more than nine months ago.
Corporate information technology managers often wait to make sure initial
problems are fixed in Microsoft's products because of past experiences with
buggy new software, Gillen said.
"They have an unfortunate history of releasing products that weren't ready," he said. "While that probably isn't
the case here--this appears to be one of the best product releases the company has ever had--a lot of IT
managers look at Microsoft with a cautious approach." |
