Businesses hoping to move to the next desktop version of Windows
will have to upgrade or replace four out of five PCs, research
shows.
System auditing company Staff & Line estimates that only 22% of
desktop systems will meet even the specified minimum speed of
233MHz - and Microsoft recommends 300MHz or higher.
Staff & Line says 56% have less than the minimum 128Mbytes
memory requirement. The figures reflect the status of more than
120,000 PCs registered on the firm's Easyvista.com Web-based asset
management system.
Microsoft admits that pre-1999 PCs are unlikely to support the
operating system.
Bloor Research senior analyst Tony Lock said, "Experience shows
that the minimum specification has to be doubled, at least. This
means a 400MHz processor with 256Mbytes of memory will probably be
required. Companies considering buying new PCs should budget for
the fastest processor available and 1Gbyte of memory."
Adoption of Windows XP Professional is vital for Microsoft
following the disappointing take-up of Windows 2000 Professional.
Many users have decided to skip from Windows 95 and 98 to XP, but
the new specifications are double those for Windows 2000 and may
cause a resurgence of interest in the older system.
Lock said, "Companies look at a three-year cycle when planning for
IT.
"Big companies will roll Windows XP adoption into a bigger plan to
upgrade PC systems - which may happen next year or even the year
after that."
The cycle of software suppliers releasing one version after another
may popularise the thin-client option. This would be "more
digestible" when only 300-400 servers need upgrading rather than
10,000 desktops, Lock said.
Neil Laver, Microsoft's Windows product marketing manager, said
XP's features will encourage companies to upgrade. "PC OEMs don't
see the spec as a blocker but as an impetus for sales when people
see the benefits," he said.
Eric Doyle
eric.doyle@rbi.co.uk