Enterprise adoption rate for Vista in Australia will be less than ten per cent during 2007, according to Hydrasight.

The company's research director John Brand said the biggest competitor to the adoption of Vista is "Microsoft and the status quo".

"Previous versions of its own operating systems, as far back as Windows 98 and 2000, dominate the majority of consumer and business PCs - and will continue to do so throughout 2007 and beyond," Brand said, adding most businesses will resist in the short to medium term.

Hydrasight believes resistance will be driven by multiple factors, including costs, productivity, and legacy.

"Rather than reducing the cost of providing desktop and server productivity software, the commitment to embrace Vista will increase technology costs overall - even for small and mid-sized businesses," according to Hydrasight. "It will require an initial spike in investment in hardware upgrades, does not remove the need for third-party tools and applications - including security and hygiene products - and will likely lead to additional ongoing services to unlock value from any new features."