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Huge Installed Base Brings Challenges to Microsoft in '07
As Microsoft heads into 2007, the company faces a number of ongoing threats and challenges, most notably getting its large installed base to upgrade to the latest wave of products. "The larger the installed base gets, the harder it is to move, and the longer it takes to transition," told Al Gillen, vice president of research at IDC. Microsoft also needs to remain competitive against the open-source Linux operating system, on both the client and server side, as well as get its virtualization house in order so as to compete aggressively against established players like VMware.While the software company will make Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange server widely available at the end of January 2007—with Windows Server "Longhorn" expected to ship in the second half of the year—analysts are not expecting enterprise uptake of these products to be significant in 2007. "In general, Microsoft's best year usually comes the year after the release of new technology, not the year of the new product release," Gillen said. But 2007 is not expected to be just about pushing sales and upgrades of the latest wave of products for Microsoft, but also a year in which the company continues to talk about its product strategy going forward and where it announces new product categories that will target consumers and small businesses, told Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group. (more)