Windows XP: what's the word across Europe?

Just over 24 hours have lapsed since Microsoft unveiled Windows XP, but already corporates across Europe are hissing at the idea of yet another upgrade.

The need to conserve financial resources in the current economic downturn means many users are reluctant to part with their cash.

Windows XP received an extremely cautious welcome in Germany where sales are reported to be slow.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft Germany said: "Even though XP has been glittering all over the country's TV stations for weeks and our marketing force has done excellent work, we haven't seen the crowds we saw waiting for the sales of Windows 95 to begin six years ago."

Claudioa Fink, ebusiness manager at banking firm Giesecke & Devrient, said it will not be evaluating the system.

"We've just set up Windows 2000 on all our machines company-wide, so before 2005 nothing new will enter the house," he said.

This is a familiar refrain from many European organisations. Research house Gartner Group predicts that only 16 per cent of companies will be running XP by 2002.

Michael Silver, research director at Gartner, claimed the professional edition was only an incremental change from Windows 2000 professional. Most enterprises will see little return on investment by upgrading to Windows XP from Windows 2000.

The product has received a mixed welcome from silicon readers.

Some users had nothing but praise for the beefed-up operating system, including a recommendation from an unlikely corner.

One silicon reader said: "As a confirmed Linux user at home that has to support MS at work I had to be at the launch yesterday. The funny thing is that this actually looks like MS has got its act together. It is certainly enough for me to recommend to my boss that the remaining W9x desktops we have should be upgraded to WXP."

Another from the British Computer Society urged users to invest in technology.

He said: "In the end, only companies who invest in new technology will be able to extract a competitive advantage, and a return on investment under six months. The moral: stop being so negative and risk a little. Without risk, there is little profit."

But there is certainly no shortage of readers expressing concerns over the cost of an upgrade.

"Microsoft seem to think that as soon as they introduce a new OS everyone will want it and that if their PC base is unable to run with the new OS, then they will rush out and buy new all over again. Sorry but we don't have Microsoft cash. We are in the real world of falling business, high fuel prices and high business rates," argued one reader.