The keys are in the car
THE Gartner chaps make a living by selling out, according to Microsoft. But this post is not about the Partner Group [sic], which was covered here tirelessly in the past [1, 2, 3, 4]. This post is mostly about a recent story from Larry Dignan, who received a so-called "loaner laptop" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Who from? Notice the environment he's in.
See a theme here? Microsoft wants you to upgrade really bad. The problem: PCs are lasting much longer than expected and companies see no reason to get on the upgrade bandwagon. Indeed, I recently got a loaner laptop and the default settings were XP with IE6. I had forgotten what IE6 even looked like.
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Here in Orlando the Microsoft upgrade question is a burning issue. Later today, Gartner analyst Michael Silver, who just a few months ago noted Windows would collapse under its own weight, tackles the issue. The question: Which version of Windows and Office do you use and for how long?
Silver’s presentation this go round is a little more constructive on Vista, but you can argue either way. Microsoft wants you to think about the risks of not upgrading. Customers want Microsoft to think about the savings involved with not moving up to Vista and the latest office.