More than 80% of users will not be upgrading to Microsoft Office XP
in the next six months, according to a Computer Weekly/Harvey Nash
Big Question survey.
While 16% of respondents plan to upgrade this year, the majority
said they would not, citing uncertainty over the benefits, the
frequency and difficulty of Microsoft upgrades and the company's
licensing stance.
One respondent said, "Until more is known about XP and
the large scale deployment of it, we will retain out W2K/Office
environment. Also, it is still unclear what benefits we will gain
by migrating to XP."
Another said, "We have only just upgraded to Office 2000 and are
still sorting out headaches associated with that. If only Microsoft
would consolidate and enhance rather than keep dishing out costly
new versions."
And another added, "Given Microsoft's current anti-user stance with
their licensing charges, I'd be delighted if there was an
alternative that meant I could drop their range altogether."
Antony Adshead