That's primarily because few of them planned to aggressively roll out the new operating system.
Microsoft will release Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise to volume- licensing customers in November. However, the four consumer editions of Vista, although still being released to manufacturing in November, won't arrive on store shelves until January -- after the holiday shopping season. Microsoft had expected Vista-based PCs to be on sale by late November.
Marc West, CIO at H&R Block Inc."No surprise," Marc West, CIO at H&R Block Inc., said of the delay. The Kansas City, Missouri-based company has 120,000 PCs throughout its thousands of tax-preparation branch offices running either Windows 2000 or XP. According to West, H&R Block has no plans to upgrade to Vista until 2009 at the earliest.
"Given the current state of XP, it is wise for them to go for a higher-quality and more security-tested product versus rushing for a deadline and having problems," he said.
"I'd rather have a stable, secure product than a rushed product that immediately needs to be patched," said John-Mark Tucker, IT manager at Seattle-based manufacturer Red Dot Corp., which is part of Microsoft's Technology Adoption Program (TAP).
Another user, Steven Naylor, vice president and director of IT at Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka in Kansas, said he intends to stick to existing plans and hold off on any upgrade to Vista until after Microsoft's first service pack is released.
"For most companies, this slip will not be an issue, because it will take them 18 months for testing and planning before they can start deploying Windows Vista," said Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner Inc.
"Microsoft could ship the business editions into 2007 without a big impact on what most companies would do, and that's certainly possible," according to Silver.
In no big rush
Both Gartner and Forrester Research Inc. predicted last year that enterprise adoption of Vista would be sluggish. For instance, Forrester said in December that its surveys indicated that only a third of big business users planned to start deploying Vista when it became available -- or even by the time the Service Pack 1 update ships, which typically takes a year or so.
Jim Allchin, co-president of the company's platform and services division, announced the delay on March 21, saying that the company wants to ensure that the operating system is solid and secure before releasing it. Later in the week, Microsoft said it will postpone the release of the consumer version of Office 2007 to keep it in line with the new Vista schedule.
Even companies with speedier Vista rollout plans said the delay in shipping the consumer version won't affect their schedules. "The Microsoft announcement does not adversely affect us," said Robert Fort, director of IT at Los Angeles-based music retailer Virgin Entertainment Group Inc.
Robert Taylor, Georgia's Fulton County CIO and director of ITVirgin has about 500 PCs serving as in-store point- of-sale terminals and kiosks running a combination of Windows 2000, Windows Embedded for Point of Service and an old IBM "green-screen" operating system. The retailer is part of Microsoft's TAP and "will continue to follow its timeline," Fort said.
Georgia's Fulton County has deployed Vista in production "on a limited basis," and "when the product is released for production by Microsoft, we will continue with our rollout to be completed throughout the enterprise as quickly as prudently possible," said Robert Taylor, CIO and director of IT, in an e-mail.
The county government is also part of TAP and has found that "Vista has been surprisingly stable," Taylor said. "The product looks very good with the enhanced security features."
Sidebar: Microsoft realigns Windows unit
Microsoft last week reshuffled its platforms and services division just two days after disclosing that shipments of its new Windows Vista software will be delayed.
The realignment includes the creation of a new group, to be headed by Senior Vice President Steve Sinofsky, to oversee development of the Windows operating system and Windows Live services.
The restructuring is part of a plan by the vendor to repair what it called a lack of agility and growth in the division that oversees its largest property, Windows. It also breaks up and renames groups that were formerly a part of the MSN division.
Kevin Johnson, co-president of the platforms and services division, announced the changes in an e-mail to the division. Johnson said he and Co-President Jim Allchin worked out the changes together to prepare for Allchin's impending retirement at the end of this year.
The Windows and Windows Live group now overseen by Sinofsky is one of eight that make up the platforms and services division, according to Microsoft.
Sinofsky joined Microsoft in 1989 as a software design engineer and had been with the Office team since its formation in 1994, first serving as the director of program management for that group.
' Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Microsoft realignment
Platform and Services Division Units
Windows and Windows Live Group
Core Operating System Division
Windows Live Platform Group
Online Business Group
Market Expansion Group
Windows Client Marketing Group
Server and Tools Business Group
Developer and Platform Evangelism Group