Few developers target Windows Vista

Only 8 percent of developers are targeting Windows Vista according to a new report from analysts Evans Data Corporation. 49 percent of developers are developing for Vista's soon-to-be-discontinued predecessor, Windows XP, and even Linux is beating Vista, with some 13 percent of development focused on the open-source OS.

The headline finding of the report, compiled from a biannual survey of North American developers, could point at continued problems for Microsoft. More than a year after its release, Vista is still failing to make significant inroads into the enterprise, with businesses preferring to stick with the tried-and-trusted Windows XP. John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data, claims that developers are taking a "wait-and-see" approach to Vista, as "the new operating system has had more than its share of problems"; driver issues, software incompatibility, and steep hardware demands.

The predictions for next year are more positive, with Vista expected to rise to 24 percent, though this will still be behind XP, expected to be the target for 29 percent of development. This points to a much brighter future for Vista. More worrying for Microsoft will be the inroads that Linux is making. Although the gains predicted for Linux are far more modest than those for Vista—Evans Data estimates that 15 percent of developers will be writing software for Linux in 2009—they do indicate that developers are slowly, but surely turning away from Windows.