Windows 2000 is still deployed on almost half of corporate PCs, according to AssetMetrix Research Labs.

In a report released on Tuesday, the research division of AssetMetrix said that Windows 2000 remains a widely deployed operating system, losing just 4 percent since the fourth quarter of 2003. But Windows XP gained in deployment during that period, rising from 6.6 percent to 38 percent of North American installations. XP evidently took corporate market share from Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT.

Gosh, after such a brilliant study like that, perhaps Msft will figure out what the market wants:

1- Not upgrade every week. Software Assurance is completely contrary to enterprise needs.

2- Not be a vendor's guinea pig. Mature products only, please (q.v. "not upgrade every week").

3- Not spend 50 hours per seat UNinstalling features that have no place there

4- Not spend 200 hours per tech to teach this week's "kinder, gentler, wizard-speak" that has become so generic that it has no real meaning or functionality

Perhaps they'll also discover what caused all of this.

1- The really old dogs had NT351. Some, not all, went for NT4.
2- The rest of us went for NTS4SP1, and promptly got ServicePacked into Hell itself.
3- Getting repeatedly ServicePacked with even numbers, only to have to install the subsequent odd-numbered "apology version" shortly thereafter left a few of us jaded.
4- Microsoft finally caught on, and stopped issuing odd numbered "apologies" with the issuing of NTSP6A, which isn't technically an odd numbered pack... Microsoft argues that the "6A" is warranted because SP6 only lived about a week before 6A's uninstall of 6 was issued.
5- After several years of this trauma, and the market reaction to it (software vendors demanding that you *only* use service packs that are explicitly approved and/or modified to work by them), we finally had a fairly stable platform. Well, a platform that was predictable enough to be made stable - and "stable" being defined as "not blowing up unless you specifically cause it."
6- Microsoft consequently blackballed it, pulled all support, and attempted to force us into W2KS (and W2KAS). Most of us balked; the new OS offered no value, and the company has a *very* strong legacy of "shipping an empty box to get the sale". Q.v. the entire servicepack fiasco above, or I can provide several wonderful episodes of actual products that literally were shipped unfinished, and not even tried before going to press... complete with script errors like, "!!!!!Remember to finish SQL install script".

7- Most of us, by now, have moved onto at least 2KS with *new* productions. Many of us still have NTS in production, because the stuff works, and *cannot* be made to work any better - and forking over several hundred grand (or million) for exactly *no change in service* is the *dumbest* concept ever created.

8- However while software never dies, hardware has an MTBF, and typically runs a 5 to 8 year schedule (or a shorter schedule if you use junk, or if life-safety is involved). New hardware... uh, not with NT. Forced upgrade of the OS ensues, along with a near total rewrite of the software that was already working perfectly. You'll notice (in the above study) that the mass migration to 2ks happened... uh, when NT4 was blackballed. You'll also notice that 2k3 was available; it didn't do so hot. After all - 2KS was on its way out, meaning ServicePack Hell is going to be minimal. Also, most of the major bugs have been worked around; it's finally becoming stable. 2K3 is brand new - and whatever it looks like today will have nothing to do with the result of the next SP. Those of you who got bit by XPSP2 will relate, I'm sure - just take your experience, and throw four or five 0s on the pricetag of your machine, and tell me how unaffected you then are. And, add a few hundred eyeballs all staring at you, about to blame you for no paycheck that week.

So- wash, rinse, repeat. 2KS is finally (mostly) trustable, and it's dead in fifteen days. 2k3 is out and mostly works, but the admin tools are so stupidified that it's tedious (and risky) to create and maintain complex setups, since the core settings are either hidden or obscured by useless verbiage - you're stuck making cryptic registry edits, and god-help-you if some idiot touches your config with one of the "friendly wizards". And we're expected to go through *all* of this, despite the fact that the original NTS box will still work, and none of this new junk will actually provide any benefit. None. Sorry, colors and screensavers don't cut it.

On the corporate desktop, it isn't much different; work machines are exactly toasters, typically running 3, maybe 4 applications. Upgrading those applications is typically pointless, as users won't utilize any of the features they already have. Look around your own shop - Word2003 is better than... uh, Word95? Been there, done it several times - most users will not bother to discover how to kill that stupid paperclip after five years. Again, upgrading with no effective change in service... is stupid. Trust me, they don't play Solitare any faster on a new box.

Eh, maybe some day they'll figure it out.

Don't I know it ...

Have to go through the hell of keeping my software Win2k compatible all the time. Especialy the GUI has changed so much from Win2k to WinXp and Win2k3 that it is a nightmare to keep the look and feel the same

But then WinXp is so buggy and such a security risk that one can hardly blame people for avoiding the transition.