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Microsoft's latest OS, Windows 7, figures to play a big part in IT spending next year, says investment group Goldman Sachs. The reason, Goldman says, is because of pent-up demand for new hardware like servers and PCs stimulating an increase in Windows 7 upgrades, ComputerWorld reports.
Goldman came by its prediction through a survey comprised of 100 IT executives from Fortune 1000 companies. Some 94 percent of those surveyed said they intend to upgrade to Windows 7, with 32 percent saying they'll do so in 2010, and another 28 percent indicating they'll make the jump in 2011. The remaining 34 percent pegged 2012 and beyond as the expected upgrade time frame, but Goldman reckons most of them will migrate in 2012 rather than waiting much longer.
One other reason Goldman believes IT spending will rise is because 36 percent of respondents said they believe their spending with Microsoft will increase, compared to 15 percent and 24 percent in the last two surveys (June and August, respectively).
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Comments are closed on this article
AlCook
December 14, 2009 at 11:33am
This article should keep its causes and effects in line. You can't say that Win 7 is driving more spending and then say "pent up demand for new servers and PCs" is doing it. If Win7 were driving it, it would rise even if overall demand were not increasing.
You also need to examine the facts more carefully. I fully believe that 94% of companies will upgrade to Windows 7, but the question is whether they are going to upgrade the OS on older machines, which is a rare occurence in corporate IT, or whether they will bring Windows 7 into their environment when they buy new PCs.
Every customer I have talked to is doing the latter. So they count as Win7 adopters, but they're not specifying Win7 as the only OS they use. In fact, it will be on the minority of their machines for several years yet, as they slowly replace XP and Vista machines. "Pent up demand" could accelerate that somewhat, but Win7 can't take a lot of credit for generating that demand. It's due more to cutbacks in 09 and delayed PC replacements than the OS.
Al
