Released at the beginning of 2007, Windows Vista is the newest version of Microsoft's flagship OS. The fanfare and hype leading up to the release promoted Vista as the most revolutionary and secure OS in the venerable Windows lineage.

Now 2007 is almost at an end and Vista's reception has been somewhere south of enthusiastic: From strange driver issues to annoying security pop-ups, Vista's shortcomings have received much attention from industry watchers. Microsoft depends on Vista's corporate success to secure its stranglehold on the OS marketplace for PCs, so the eventual adoption of Vista in corporate environments is critical to the company.

What's that mean for IT pros? Before you make any plans around Vista, consider: Companies are monitoring developments and proceeding cautiously with any plans for deployment.

Corporate Vista Today

A 2006 IDC research report predicted 18 percent of IT workers would be have some kind of Vista-related employment during the first year of shipment. Have things turned out that way?

"Not even close," says Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, a technology market research firm in San Jose. Vista deployments this year, he says, "have been all but non-existent."

"Within our client base, the trend is slow, less than 5 percent," adds MJ Shoer, president and virtual chief technology officer for Jenaly Technology Group, an IT services provider in Portsmouth, N.H. Shoer attributes this slow rate of adoption to the fact that many of his clients prefer systems that have XP Professional bundled in. However, he notes, "this is not terribly different from what we saw when Windows XP was first released and clients continued to purchase Windows 2000."

Rob Enderle believes business adoption has been slow because businesses typically wait for Service Pack 1 before initiating their deployments and because Vista has had enough problems to give IT managers pause.

Statistics collected by Forrester Research indicate that XP remains the OS of choice in corporate America. Eighty four percent of corporate PCs this year have standardized on Windows XP, a healthy 17 percent increase over last year, Forrester says.

In contrast, Windows Vista deployments clock in at a meager 2 percent. According to Forrester, Vista adoption has been "cautious at best" in the six to eight months after its release.

Strangely, Vista's tepid adoption rate may have been caused by Microsoft's own success with Windows XP. "In some respects," says Jenaly's Shoer, "while Microsoft has done the right thing in continuing to make XP available, they have also shot themselves in the foot, giving purchasers an easy way out of Vista adoption."

But, the impending release of Vista's first service pack (SP1) and XP's inevitable aging process bodes well for Vista's future prospects. "SP1 is looking promising ... and XP has been showing its age, so it looks like Vista will start slipstreaming in with new hardware next year," says Enderle.

Corporate Vista Tomorrow

So, where is Vista headed? According to Forrester, almost half of the enterprises it surveyed have definite deployment plans. By the end of the year, Forrester expects 7 percent of enterprises will begin deployments, while 25 percent plan to deploy in 2008 and 11 percent in 2009. Some 38 percent of the businesses surveyed have no plans to deploy Vista.

Meanwhile, a Yankee Group report indicates Vista may find it tough to gain traction with small and medium sized companies. Because changes in business computing are making traditional desktop operating systems less relevant, Yankee Group believes most small businesses see XP as "good enough" for their needs. However, the firm points out Vista's purportedly enhanced security may be too attractive for many small firms to resist.

Also, adds Jenaly's Shoer, "as consumers get more comfortable with the operating system, the acceptance will spill over into the corporate space." Shoer says some of Vista's new features - such as its search capability - make it desirable for new computers in business environments. "We have already begun specifying Windows Vista Business on all new installations and have not received any negative push back from clients," he says.

The Vista Ahead

So, what impact will all this have on the job market? Corporate IT departments incorporating a new OS take pains to ensure it plays nice with existing applications. So, a rollout of Vista's magnitude will involve extensive application testing, with extra desktop support staff needed to ensure applications are thoroughly tested for compatibility before Vista is deployed.

On top of that, an OS as different as Vista will require extensive user hand-holding. Thus, it's safe to say more help-desk personnel will be needed to handle calls. Because good training can go a long ways toward alleviating call volume, IT staff adept at training personnel may also be needed in most enterprises. Finally, Vista's arrival also ushered in Office 2007, meaning even more need for support, integration, and training efforts.

In the end, it may be Microsoft's subsequent patching efforts that ultimately decide Vista's fate in corporate America. Both beta testers and OEMs have given solid marks to SP1, says Enderle, who's a beta user himself. "The result," he adds, "may be a good 2008 ramp if initial perceptions hold and there are no more show stopping issues."