Dan Kuznetsky Windows Quotations

Media reports often leave the impression that Windows NT is being adopted by organizations of all sizes for every conceivable mission and that organizations are abandoning their investments in other operating environments. However, when IDC shines the light of empirical research on Windows NT usage, a different view emerges.

Microsoft is very good at momentum marketing. It can turn reports of strong growth in revenues, software licenses shipments, or clients being supported into a message that Windows NT is becoming the de facto standard.

When someone is going to pay $3,000 for a Windows NT or Windows 2000 license, you can bet she is going to use it. If she pays $2 or even $50 or $150 for a Linux package, that doesn't necessarily mean it is going to get used -- or it could mean it was used 1,000 times by the organization. We just don't know how to count that.

In many cases, Windows NT has been brought in to work alongside the operating environments that were already in place in the mid-1990s -- supporting the organization's application portfolios rather than replacing them.