Windows XP Slow To Take Hold

Less than 10 percent of Microsoft's installed base has upgraded to Windows XP since its release last October. That matches a 2001 Gartner prediction that nearly 75 percent of all corporate PCs would still be running Windows 95, 98 or NT Workstation by the end of 2002.

The adoption rate for the installed base of 250 million Windows users is "pretty small," said Rogers Weed, vice president of Windows client product management at Microsoft. "We're trying to kick-start some momentum."

One solution provider said Windows XP hasn't had any impact on his sales over the past year. "I've not had a single client that wanted to upgrade from any previous version to XP, especially from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. There's just so little difference," said Jeffrey Sherman, president of Warever Computing, a Los Angeles-based solution provider specializing in networks.

At the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2002, held last week in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Microsoft committed $1 million to underwrite corporate studies to prove the return on investment with Windows XP.