Windows NT will surpass NetWare to dominate the server- operating environment market by 1999 and will ship more than 1.5m units by the year 2000 with a compound annual growth rate of 31% from 1994 to 2000, according to research company IDC. The Framingham, Massachusetts company predicted NetWare will follow with shipments of 1.4m with Unix and OS/2 struggling behind with 928,000 and 498,000 units, respectively. An IDC analyst told Computergram that much of Windows NT’s success has been due to Microsoft’s ability to create snowballing sales through end-user marketing: Microsoft’s technology is good enough to handle what most people throw at it, and, significantly, their marketing department understands the importance of good theater. He added that Windows NT’s main growth will come from sites with less than 100 customers, because larger sites will demand more scaleability than NT allows.
