Will Intel's snub of Vista be the first of many?

Whatever happened to that chummy Wintel alliance? You know, the Microsoft Windows/Intel chip cartel that has long helped to cement Microsoft's hold on the industry?

In a significant snub, Intel has decided not to upgrade its 80,000 desktops from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

As an inside source put it:

This isn't a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista.

Is Intel a sign of things to come for Microsoft? Will the rest of corporate America discover that Microsoft essentially stopped innovating long ago and has failed to deliver a worthwhile upgrade to XP?

Meanwhile, companies like IBM are actively exploring Windows alternatives like the Mac. Microsoft has competition on its hands for the first time, and it only has itself to blame. If it can't build a compelling reason to upgrade, it can't expect to remain absolute controller of the desktop universe.

[slamin97]

So uh, Vista has been out for a while. We've got SP1 already. Nobody is installing it, so I don't think Intel is the "first" of anything. They're in the middle of the pack of companies that are saying "why the hell would we install Vista?" Let's see - much more powerful hardware needed for a much less pleasing experience. Vista is pointless, as in Windows ME pointless. I wonder if M$ forced Vista throughout their company or if most stuck with XP...

[jabberwolf]

Um What business roles out a new OS when they have so much invested in the old OS?

Sorry but this is a stupid stupid story. You'd think that the CNET woudlnt allow pandering to ones own business on here but Matt Asay does this as usual.

This same thing happened with Windows XP from Windows 98 or windows 2000. Nothing new!! It takes about 3 to 4 years for businesses to switch over. Especially if there are some radical changes like Vista or especially the new MS Office.

Matt Asay is also the one that wrote about IBM's VERY VERY small Mac pilot where they had better experiences but neglected to say there was little use and IBM pretty much scrubbing it.

So this article? Basically it's fluff, means nothing, and posted by Google as News.

WOOPIIIIEEEE!!! Anything to bash MS for a non-existent issue!

[Simplicius]

I work for one of the American top public university. I couldn't fail but notice that they are in the middle of buying new desktops (around 20000 of them) which will last another 4 years. Well, they wisely chose XP over Vista. thing is, Microsoft probably still counts them as 20000 Vista licenses sold.

[Michichael]

Yup. Every XP Computer we deploy (And still deploying strong!) has a Vista license with downgrade rights due to Microsoft Volume Licensing Agreements.

[morrie 52]

The best is Intel got them ,MS,in to the courts for the basic ne premium debacle to get them of the hardware hook,when in reality they should have done an Apple and only offered one flavour the Ultimate one.The problem with Vista to a corporation it holds no real benefits over XP it is to private customers who appreciate it's greater security,prettier and simpler interface,but company's effectively have security locked down in IT, prettier to look at huh, so it's all a no brainer,so unless Windows 7 can come up with some thing special like Longhorn promised it looks like Apple and other OS will be munch on ever bigger slice of the MS cake.

[john55440]

When Windows XP was introduced, Intel snubbed that too, so that's not much of an indicator. It's standard practice for large businesses to be late adaptors of new operating systems. On the consumer side, Vista-preinstalled dominates new computer sales.