Microsoft Windows 2000 still present in almost 50% of corporate PCs in USA

AssetMetrix, a provider of on-demand business intelligence for IT, published the results of a report from its research division, AssetMetrix Research Labs showing that Microsoft Windows 2000 remains a widely deployed operating system in corporate IT environments, losing only four percentage points in popularity from 52% in Q4-2003 to 48% in Q1-2005, while Windows XP rose in popularity from 6.6% to 38%.

Mainstream support for Windows 2000 is set to expire on 30 June 2005.

The study also found that within the same time period Windows 95 and Windows 98 were reduced from a collective 28% to less than 5% while Windows NT popularity was reduced from 13.5% to about 10%.

Microsoft Windows XP became the most popular operating system for companies with fewer than 250 PCs.

"The findings of this study suggest that Windows 2000 still plays an important part in many IT environments, with organizations often choosing Windows XP to replace Windows 98 and Windows 95," said Steve O'Halloran, managing director of AssetMetrix Research Labs. "Companies re-deploying PCs, without a policy to manage and support their operating systems, will have their Windows XP transition rate dictated by PC obsolescence rather than by intelligent planning and forecasting."

The report also found that while Windows XP is now the most popular operating system for companies with fewer than 250 PCs, Windows 2000 still has a greater than 50% market share in larger organizations.