Microsoft's Clouds May Break If Vista Boots Up

Some businesses may be waiting for Microsoft to bring out its Service Pack 1 patch for Vista. The company says it expects to release the beta version before the end of the year, noting that service pack availability is less important since most updates are available online.

More important than the service pack, says the company, is the sales uplift from cross-selling the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack to businesses. The MDOP enables IT departments to control their desktops and remotely update systems.

"In mature markets, it's more about upselling premium editions and cross-selling," Turner said.

Within businesses, Vista seems to have gotten off to a slow start because many companies buy through original equipment manufacturers, rather than directly from Microsoft, possibly slowing the reporting of those sales, Cherry says.

And a corporate upgrade to Vista isn't quite like getting your hands on your first Apple(AAPL Quote) iPhone: "It goes into the queue of the work the IT group has to do," where it has to compete with the department's other priorities, Cherry says.

So far, Vista has been unable to displace XP Professional: The latter's share remained at 43.7% of the worldwide market -- the same as in 2006. Initially, Vista appears to have displaced Windows 2000 Professional and older editions, as well as XP Home.