Ballmer Warns Business to Stop Installing XP, or Employees Will Complain

The time has come for businesses to abandon Windows XP and start using Vista, so says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Failure to do so might result in a discontent work force.

"If you deploy a four or five-year old operating sytem today, most people will ask their boss why the heck they don't have the stuff they have at home," Ballmer said during an interview at a New York City Event.

Whether or not "the stuff they have at home" is Vista or XP, Ballmer has good reason to push the former to business owners. According to the most recent survey results collected by Forrester, Vista is powering slightly less than 10 percent of all PCs within enterprises in North America and Europe.

On the bright side (for Microsoft), Ballmer may not have to do much convincing. Forrester also says that 31 percent of enterprises have begun deploying Vista, even with Windows 7 now on the horizon.