Last month, PatchLink released the results of a survey, which indicate that the adoption rate of Windows Vista by businesses had slowed significantly. In the survey of 250 IT managers at various levels, 87 percent indicated that they would be sticking with the Windows version they currently operate. These numbers stood in contrast to the results of a survey the company conducted in December of 2006, which showed that nearly half of the respondents in that survey planned to deploy Windows Vista at some time, and 28 percent said they'd deploy Windows Vista within a year.

The change in attitude toward deploying Vista may be related to shifts in perception about Vista's security and the realities regarding the cost of hardware upgrades needed to use the new operating system. Many large institutions have opted to do a phased roll-out over a period of three years, which fully absorbs the timeframe Microsoft has given itself to release Vista's replacement and has created a growing sense of resistance to the new OS. Additionally, the rise of alternative operating systems and platforms is creating the opportunity to consider something different.

The reality in terms of operating systems and applications is that sticking with what you've got for the time being is only a short-term strategy at best. A home user can apply a completely different set of standards, and can accommodate the lack of compatibility between older operating systems and newer software.

Realistically, the time will come when business users will either have to deploy Windows Vista and upgrade their applications or opt out of the upgrade cycle altogether. Microsoft will eventually dump support for older operating systems, as they have always done in the past. More critically, however, some businesses will upgrade and others will not, opening issues of compatibility among shared documents. Those who depend upon this ability will quickly find themselves on the outside looking in.

Does the release of Windows Vista present an opportunity for businesses to consider other platforms? Always. The two most likely candidates for adoption are the open source OSs like Linux and FreeBSD, or the proprietary Mac OS. Apple's recently reported second quarter sales figures show a strong increase in Macintosh sales. It's unlikely that all of these sales are the result of businesses throwing Windows out the window, but perhaps instead, it represents an increase in the number of users willing to consider alternative platforms.

Ultimately, a business will switch platforms if it can make a business case for doing so. Standard office software is available for the Macintosh, and Linux offers a number of office-like application suites that deliver standard application functionality. With an open source platform, the software is "free" and generally don't require a hardware upgrade to run, but can require additional end-user support, technical support and maintenance.

The security issue is one of real concern. Windows Vista was billed as being more secure than previous versions of Windows, but analytical comparisons of Windows Vista and Windows XP have shown that Vista is generally no more secure than its predecessors. If so, the advantage of migrating to Vista is obviated, and businesses are making the best decision in the short term. In this case, an upgrade of hardware and software represents a largely wasted investment of resources, both monetary and human.

Undeniably, compatibility issues and the loss of vendor support will continue to rise, and eventually, Windows XP users will be forced to choose.