PRNewswire -- Microsoft customers are walking -- not running -- toward implementing the software giant's new technologies and practices, according to a new IDC study. IDC surveyed over 300 IT managers known to be Windows NT or Windows 2000 users and uncovered responses to Licensing 6.0 terms, receptiveness to Windows XP and the Windows.Net server family, as well as adoption rates for Active Directory.

"Most Microsoft customers will continue to follow the Windows roadmap,
with broad plans for Active Directory deployment. However, users say their
movement to Microsoft's latest operating systems will proceed on their
schedule, not on Microsoft's schedule," said Al Gillen, research manager for
IDC's Operating Environments service.

In terms of purchasing plans, Licensing 6.0 does not appear to have a
dramatic impact on most users, the survey finds. The majority of IT managers
surveyed by IDC are either still evaluating the new licensing process effects
or are not concerned with the changes it introduces. However, 15.4% of survey
respondents say that Licensing 6.0 provides them incentive to seek alternate
products, citing the increase in Microsoft's software licensing cost as the
primary reason.

"The bigger picture shows that few customers will be replacing their
Microsoft technology with alternate products over the short term, so
competitive products need to continue to offer a strong story of
interoperability with Microsoft environments," Gillen said.

IDC believes business users' movement toward Microsoft's next-generation
operating systems will be cautious -- as is typical for a new Microsoft
technology.  No apparent rush is expected by businesses to adopt Windows XP or
Windows.Net, especially because many IT managers are still implementing
Windows 2000. Three out of four companies report that they are only at the
beginning stages of this adoption process with many smaller organizations
further along than larger companies.

Active Directory adoption appears to coincide with the implementation of
Windows 2000.  For a majority of users, Active Directory is the directory
service of choice for their Windows environments, but Active Directory has
also been a reason for delaying implementation of the server operating
environment. In fact, according to IDC's survey, 36% of respondents have
delayed their Windows 2000 rollouts because of the complexity associated with
Active Directory.