Companies will wait for Windows 7

Vista has not received a much kinder reception with customers. While much of the blame for poor initial compatibility and problems since rests with third party hardware and PC manufacturers, Vista has been getting blasted for its problems. Market research firm Gartner said that Windows could collapse if the trends from Vista continue. The OS has earned Microsoft a major lawsuit for its high hardware requirements, which the plaintiffs allege Microsoft glossed over in advertising. And fair or not, many customers have turned back to the reliable Windows XP, abandoning Vista, to the chagrin of Microsoft.

Microsoft is also experiencing severe struggles in the business sector. According to BusinessWeek, a growing number of business are adopting a "Just Say No" policy on Vista, and are waiting until Windows 7, which should be due in 2010. These companies mostly use XP and a major factor for many of them is that Vista is simply not lean enough for their infrastructure.

Among the latest to jump on this bandwagon is General Motors. The automobile giant has said that it has encountered so many problems getting Vista to work on its machines that it is likely to skip the OS and wait for Windows 7. Says GM's Chief Systems & Technology Officer Fred Killeen, "We're considering bypassing Vista and going straight to Windows 7."

Killeen says that the high hardware requirements are the nail in the coffin. Many of the machines that have trouble running it won't be scheduled to be replaced until 2010 to 2011. Says Killeen, "By the time we'd replace them, Windows 7 might be ready anyway."

GM, like many larger manufacturers, is also finding that many of its smaller supporting software vendors haven't guaranteed their programs to work in Vista.