Consultancy tells business clients to prepare for upgrade now
An IT consultancy is warning its clients that, whatever their misgivings about Vista, it’s time to start planning an exit strategy from Windows XP. It says application compatibility remains the biggest barrier to Vista upgrades.
The advice comes from The Advisory Council. Despite its name, it isn’t a government-backed organization; it’s a consultancy similar to firms such as Gartners. But while the report doesn’t bring any notably new information, it’s likely to have an important effect.
The plain language style it adopts suggests its intended audience will be small firms which don’t have expert dedicated IT staff. While bigger firms will have staff with the knowledge to assess the pros and cons of Vista (which may, of course, give them reason to reject it), these smaller firms will be exactly the type of would-be buyer who will have been put off by the continuing poor publicity.
The firm’s key conclusions are that compatibility issues are still putting people off upgrades, and that the side-effects of Vista’s security features are a price worth paying to get the benefits.
Though the report notes a number of reasons for compatibility issues (delays to Vista’s development schedule, badly designed programs getting exposed by Vista, firms running outdated editions of applications), it concludes that however valid these are, they’ll become irrelevant at one point because XP will no longer be a valid option.
The report claims that “any new PC has more than enough horsepower to handle Vista.” Given that BestBuy’s cheapest computers have just 2GB, this is a debatable point. (Business buyers may not be shopping at BestBuy, but in many cases they’ll be getting the lowest-spec machines available, especially when buying in bulk.)
Technically 2GB is enough to run Vista (Microsoft has effectively conceded the listed minimum spec of 1GB won’t be enough for many users), but there are some arguments that 4GB is the real minimum for practical use, particularly if you are multitasking. However, the underlying point – that many businesses rarely if ever upgrade operating systems on existing machines – is certainly valid.
The report pretty much concludes that even if it chooses to skip Vista, a business wanting to stick with Windows is still going to have to make a potentially painful leap from XP to Windows 7 and needs to at least start planning for that leap now. That’s hardly going to be the new Microsoft slogan, but if it drives sales, the firm will be happy with consultants giving such advice.
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January 26th, 2009
Our IT department has no plans for Vista or Windows 7 for a long time. If a computer dies, it is replaced by a refurbished unit with Windows XP pro.
January 27th, 2009
“An IT consultancy is warning its clients that, whatever their misgivings about Vista, it’s time to start planning an exit strategy from Windows XP.”
The marketplace is way ahead of this mob – Linux and Mac are continuing to gain both mind share and market share.
“While bigger firms will have staff with the knowledge to assess the pros and cons of Vista [...]”
A retarded donkey can figure out the pros and cons of Vista.
“[...] the side-effects of Vista’s security features are a price worth paying to get the benefits.”
At best, that is an ignorant and ill-informed statement. At worst, it is advertising paid for by Microsoft. Either way, it won’t cut any ice in the market place. The ugly truth that Vista is a complete dog cannot be covered up or ignored.
“Though the report notes a number of reasons for compatibility issues [...] they’ll become irrelevant at one point because XP will no longer be a valid option.”
What’s irrelevant is Vista. Sadly, Microsoft operating systems are now a dead end – they are legacy software. Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista in drag; it is a ploy that is indicative of a company that has run out of ideas and is running out of time.
‘The report claims that “any new PC has more than enough horsepower to handle Vista.”‘
And a Ferrari can tow a thirty ton trailer.
“[...] a business wanting to stick with Windows [...]”
Businesses don’t so much stick with Windows as get stuck with it – but thankfully that’s changing.