Almost half of large organisations are still using the
Windows 2000 operating system, four years after the release of
Windows XP, according to a study from AssetMetrix Research
Labs.
in the first quarter of this year, AssetMetrix found that 48% of
corporate IT environments were running Windows 2000 desktop - only
four percentage points less than in the fourth quarter of
2003.
Windows XP has
risen in popularity from 6.6% to 38% during the same period.
Windows 95 and Windows 98 have fallen from a collective 28% to less
than 5%, and Windows NT has dropped from 13.5% to about 10%.
Microsoft Windows
client product manager Janet Gibbons said the research “fits with
what we’re seeing in terms of market trends. We do have a large
installed base of people running Windows 2000, but in the UK,
Windows XP is the dominant OS with around 40% of enterprise
customers using it”.
Steve O’Halloran,
managing director of AssetMetrix, said, “Companies redeploying PCs,
without a policy to manage and support their operating systems,
will have their Windows XP transition rate dictated by PC
obsolescence rather than by intelligent planning and
forecasting."
AssetMetrix
analysed over 150,000 Windows PCs in more than 200 corporations
ranging in size from 20 to 54,000 employees.
Standard support
for Windows 2000 runs out on 30 June, leaving businesses that run
the Microsoft server product in particular with a choice between
paying for extended support or upgrading.