Symantec disses Vista, says corporations 'not comfortable'

Microsoft seems to be fighting a losing public relations battle for Vista, as companies continue to criticize the latest Windows operating system.

In an interview with InformationWeek, Symantec's chief operating officer Enrique Salem said his customers in the enterprise sector are sticking with the older operating system.

This apparently is resulting in lost sales for the company and other third-party providers, he laments. While the first service pack for Vista was intended to drum up interest in the OS, Salem has seen no evidence of an increase in adoption.

He added that the company is looking towards Windows 7 and is already working on applications for that operating system, due out in 2010.

Symantec is not the first to rain on Microsoft's parade. Analysts from Gartner in April claimed that Windows was collapsing under its own weight, and the company's third fiscal quarter software sales were disappointing.

Add this together with a resurgent Apple Computer, and Microsoft suddenly finds itself in the unusual role of playing defense when it comes to its operating system business.