Windows is 'collapsing,' Gartner analysts warn

From Computerworld Australia -

At a Gartner-sponsored conference in Las Vegas, analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald said in their presentation "Windows Is Collapsing: How What Comes Next Will Improve," Microsoft has not responded to the market, is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and decisions and faces serious competition on a whole host of fronts that will make Windows moot unless Microsoft make adjustments.

Among the problems is Windows' rapidly-expanding code base, which makes it virtually impossible to quickly craft a significantly new version. That was proved by Vista, when Microsoft, frustrated by the lack of progress of the five-year development effort on the new OS, hit the "reset" button and dropped back to the more stable code of Windows Server 2003 as the foundation of Vista.

Other analysts have pointed out the slow move toward Vista. Last month, Forrester said that by the end of 2007 only 6.3% of the 50,000 enterprise users it surveyed were working with Vista. What gains Vista made during its first year appeared to be at the expense of Windows 2000; Windows XP's share hardly budged.

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