back to: Articles Archive
Windows Vista: The 6-Month Review
By Dale Walls
Through Microsoft’s Open License programs, the latest Windows Vista operating system has been available since last November. At the beginning of this year, the OEM and Retail licensing of Vista enabled system manufacturers and PC shops to sell systems with Vista pre-loaded or upgrade existing systems.
The adoption of this platform has been slowed since the initial launch days due not to fault of Microsoft but rather third-party software and hardware vendors. Microsoft’s efforts have paid off and have rolled out one of the best first version releases of an operating system to date. Unfortunately for them, the rest of the IT world is slow to catch up. Many hardware manufacturers are sluggish to provide drivers for their pre-Vista products, as are software vendors to update their previous version applications to function properly. Some vendors are not even wasting any time on R&D for legacy versions of their products and requiring that users upgrade to a new version if the user is chooses to run Vista.
Personally I’m not surprised at this point following some of the launch problems last year surrounding even Internet Explorer 7. When systems upgraded to the latest version of IE, many web applications encountered errors and providers required that users roll back to Internet Explorer 6. Some web applications remain incompatible to this day.
What is surprising still is the response given by vendors when approached about compatibility with these latest releases of IE 7, Vista, and Office 2007. Just yesterday in an interview with technical support of a proprietary line of business application, a representative provided that no testing had been done of their software on Windows Vista. Now if you read that line again, they said not that the software wasn’t ready but rather that it had not even been tested yet. The concern there is the fact that Microsoft has made Vista available for compatibility testing for over a year now.
The reality is that the industry went through the same pains during the early days of Windows XP. Vista is no different in that vendors are slow and cautious to offer support or release updates. This in general needs to put caution in your mind when considering moving to Vista. An in depth review of your system infrastructure as a whole needs to be considered. For example, your accounting software may be ready for Vista; however your printer may not. Keep in mind that it’s probably not the best idea to attempt to put new software on your old hardware either, especially now knowing that the hardware manufacturer may have opted not to provide support for Vista.
Another major consideration is the performance specs of your hardware. As anticipated, Vista rides heavy on the back of your computer. Don’t skip out on processor power and memory. Most configurations are coming with a standard 1 GB of memory; ask for the 2nd GB if you’re running Vista. Once you make a good hardware decision, plan to buy the latest software from the Adobes and Intuits of the world. Software vendors such as these are going to require you be on their latest versions to provide compatibility and support.
A hit seemingly against Microsoft was in their efforts to provide a more secure platform. Although they accomplished this goal, a lot of the compatibility issues lie here in that the reprogramming of software applications are needed to adjust for the added security levels. Competing rivals of Microsoft have taken advantage of this and now spun it back in their face claiming that the new securities make the use of the system more difficult and not user friendly. Trust though that these new securities are an improvement against the continually vast world of spyware and viruses.
On the other hand however, Office 2007 is in high demand. This release has proven to have truly brought value to the user out of the box. The enhanced user interface, expanded feature set, and new capabilities of Office 2007 have been received well by early adopters. Legacy or power Office users may initially struggle to find some of the more traditional features in the new tab-based interface, but after a day or so of use they adapt and enjoy the experience.
So as you navigate these new technologies on the street, look primarily at the value proposition of these products as they relate to your business. These latest editions of our most commonly used products are indeed an improvement over previous versions, just make sure that the same holds true as you introduce them to your business.Dale Walls is President of Corsica Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner & Small Business providing complete IT Solutions for businesses, government, and home computing in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Feel free to contact Dale at 443.262.9290, or by email at dale@corsicatech.com.
