Give Vista Another Chance
section: windows, for your questions: KezNews forum, 27.7.2008
Rarely does a week go by that there isn't at least one story in the media about the supposed shortcomings of Windows Vista or how companies are scorning it because of incompatibilities or a perceived lack of business value.
Reading this coverage, you might get the impression that Windows Vista's predicament is unique among the various versions of Windows. A decade spent helping customers assess the savings and business value of a Windows upgrade tells me otherwise.
When Windows 2000 was released, people complained about compatibility and performance issues and said they preferred Windows 98. When Windows XP came out, people complained about complex hardware requirements. They said they didn't need to upgrade because Windows 2000 was sufficient for their needs. When I spoke at a launch-day session about the benefits of Windows XP SP2, customers complained about high-compatibility restrictions and complicated features. Sound familiar?
And yet, looking back on the reputation of Windows Vista's predecessors, you find that, while there was some challenge accompanying the transition to each one, in time every one of these operating systems proved to be a solid investment. Now, people are griping about the same things in Vista. My experiences as a user of Windows and as an adviser to my customers have taught me not to be surprised about this response, but it has also convinced me that, regardless of what you read or hear, companies need to take a closer look at Windows Vista before writing it off.
It's part of my job to work with vendors and customers to approach a decision as pragmatically and strategically as possible. If there's still doubt about the value of Windows Vista, consider the following: It has required fewer security updates than Windows XP in its first year of availability -- nine updates vs. XP's 26. And the success of Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool suggests that Windows Vista is 60% less likely to be infected by malicious software than XP SP2. From a purely anecdotal perspective, there's no question that features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption provide a pronounced improvement in the security of corporate data on a notebook. And although some people may resent it, the User Account Control can seriously curtail the frequency of malware on a company desktop.
One of my government customers recently began deploying Windows Vista, and one of the challenges he faced was that many of the users on the network simply didn't understand how to use their computers safely, which sometimes resulted in a malware infection. Deploying different vendor security products only led to costly and inconsistent measures that were difficult to upgrade. With the upgrade to Windows Vista, he is getting a much safer experience out-of-the-box without requiring additional security products. As a result, the customer expects a 30% decrease in security-related calls to the help desk.
Other benefits, such as the energy-savings feature in Windows Vista, are providing substantial savings, but for many companies the No. 1 obstacle may remain deployment of the operating system. Admittedly, there are challenges with deploying Windows Vista, just as there are with any software product. But one thing is for sure: Windows Vista deployment is not as difficult as you might surmise from all the lurid headlines.
source:
pcworld.com
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Comments(11)
i deployed vista on my three operating computers (one is a laptop) and un-deplyed it
within a week and bought xp professional sp3 for each and every one of them. i won't be
deploying anything else for a few years.
i reinstalled vista, now with sp1, on 2 mb's 2 weeks ago now, but one is already
replaced again, the other will be removed again one of these days, sorry, cannot just deal
with all those stupid little bugs in vista.
its not that i'm not willing to use
vista.
and yes, i have official licenses.
...and its convince me to stop spending any more money on microsoft solutions.
some people out there think linux (or other operating system) is crap, inferior, etc.
at least when you try those, they don't charge you a bucket load, then
interrogate you to make sure your copy is "validated" on a regular basis.
i
can barely afford hardware upgrades, and vista just barely scrapes in.
i'm
returning this retail box one for a refund and store credit. (no, i didn't "activate
it", as i wanted to try it in its unactivated mode.)
sounds as if the article was written by someone in mrket reseach at microsoft, all the
same arguments i have heard before.i am a third party service agent in the computer
industry, and since the introduction of vsta i have removed it from over 130 computers,
mosstly owned by individuals. i have several computers myself and have had to dual boot
booth xp pro and vista(with sp1) beccause i still have to service computers with vista. xp
has far more usability, and runs on far less "advanced" hardware. i will wait for "7"
myself, vista is just another "me" to be skipped till they release a real operating
system, not one that is just to enhance they profit ratio....
i have vista running on 3 machines and xp running on 2. no question that the vista
machines need more ummmph - but so did xp when it came out. xp was touted as mediocre
until sp2. now granted, i am a geek and have vista running quite well but the average user
would have no clue on what i or other geeks do to tweak it. absolute min ram is 2gb -
recommend 2ghz processor or dual core 1.6+. video (if no games) 128mb min for games 256mb
min. i rec vista manager to help tweak - did wonders for me. make sure to create a restore
point and backup backup backup
i hate the uac i can decide for myself what to run. but after turning that crap off, i
prefer vista anyday
i've been running vista64 sp1 for a few months now. granted, i have a fairly decent
system (dual core extreme, 2gb pc2-10000, geforce 280 gtx, raid 0 sata) but i have to say
that vista works just fine for cad, gaming, etc. don't beleive the negative hype. it's
true that extra performance is necessary but nowadays, good hardware is fairly
inexpensive. my 2 cents.
yes, i said that right.
windows 7 kernel is going to be written with a lot of the
code that makes up vista's kernel.
vista has worked great for me since
microsoft first released it to their beta testers. yes, i had a problem initially with
nvidia drivers, but even they work better now.
i have no compatibility issues
with vista, no crashes, no bsod's. the only times i only problems that i've had with
vista i caused.
it wasn't a problem with the os itself.
in my opinion,
when windows 7 debuts, it will be more like "vista second edition" than it will be a
completely new os.
for those that experience the nag messages, turn them off.
plain and simple.
if your machine won't support vista, then it's time for an
upgrade anyhow, even if you stay with xp forever!
to say that vista is another
"windows me" is just another reason to justify not liking vista.
vista is nothing
even similarly close to the garbage that "win me" used to be.
keznews has been releasing this kind of crap for a long time... nothing useful in months
(or a year).
get a mac.
"if your machine won't support vista, then it's time for an upgrade anyhow, even if
you stay with xp forever! "
that to me is conclusive proof that some people
are addicted to the upgrade culture. why should the average user who just wants to surf
and run wordprocessor/office type software upgrade?
i meet average users all
the time, they are very happy with xp and their 3 year old machines, thank you very much.
they dont have to upgrade and neither should they.
maybe thats why people are
looking more seriously at linux these days. you get the modern features without having to
have a hal 9000 series computer to run them.
regardless of if vista is in the
same situation as me, if vista is not taken up to an extent for it to be viable business
to ms, then it will be dropped.
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Give Vista Another Chance
By whozzit on 28.07.2008 - 04:07