Smaller Businesses Leading the Charge to VistaSmaller Businesses Leading the Charge to Vista

Not only does a recent report demonstrate that Windows Vista is being adopted by more US businesses, but the findings also indicate that smaller businesses are moving to Vista the fastest. Why are smaller businesses feeling the "Wow"?A poll by IT services firm CDW reports, according to CNET, that "just under half -- 48 percent -- of IT decision makers in the U.S. are using or evaluating Vista, according to a poll by IT services firm CDW.

There's more. Writes CNET: "Vista migration is also increasing, with 35 percent of those surveyed saying they are in the process of moving to Vista. Just 12 percent said this last February. Thirteen percent of these migrations are complete and another third are due to be finished by May 2008."

Is it possible the much-maligned operating system is actually gaining traction? Bill Gates recently made some grandiose claims about Vista's adoption, but skeptics remain.

But here's the kicker. According to the CDW report, small businesses are moving to implement Vista the fastest. InfoWorld highlights the CDW statistic that small businesses comprised 53 percent "of those companies either using or evaluating Vista."

InfoWorld quotes David Cottingham, director of product and partner management at CDW, who notes that "because of lingering hardware and application compatibility issues between existing company IT assets and Vista, CDW still advises customers to move to Vista on a case-by-case basis." But he added that in the case of small businesses, "they may not have the application or hardware dependencies on Windows XP that larger businesses have."

That doesn't exactly sound like a rousing endorsement of Vista, but it does speak to the flexibility and adaptability inherent -- and possible -- in a smaller business. More smaller businesses are moving to Vista because they can.

And that probably puts those businesses ahead of the curve. As InfoWorld notes, "Many believe it's inevitable that any businesses currently running XP will eventually move to Vista; it's just a matter of when." The release of Vista SP! will probably further increase the number of companies adopting Vista.

Smaller businesses, have you switched to Vista yet?