Sales of Windows Vista have slumped over the past month because businesses are concerned that it cannot support their needs, according to new research carried out by business analyst Context.

Microsoft launched the operating system in January this year, but has struggled to make an impact in Europe and was dealt a further blow as sales for August fell by four per cent.

Jeremy Davies, senior partner at Context, explained: “There have been some compatibility issues and businesses are worried that it is not going to work and that it will cost them a lot of money.”

Daniel Kiernan, UK and Ireland business development manager at PC vendor Lenovo, agreed. “A number of our clients’ applications are not designed to run on Vista and will only run with XP,” he said. “There are some issues that need to be ironed out, so firm are not making the transition in large numbers.”

Robert May, managing director of Microsoft reseller Ramsac, said: “It has been released to market too soon and not everybody is ready for it. “The infrastructure that clients need simply is not there yet and it
is preventing people from investing in Vista,” he said.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has since revealed it will extend the availability of XP by a further five months until June 2008, a move supported by Davies who claims it will help Vista in the long term. “This is a sensible move from Microsoft,” he said. “It shows that it is listening to its customers rather than forcing Vista onto people. “Vista’s time will come. Launching a new operating system always takes time for it to be a success ­ Vista is just taking a bit longer.”