As Windows 7 gets ready for its next release, it could be already hurting Vista's remaining chances with businesses and organizations. Microsoft has started to push Vista to its corporate customers. Earlier this month Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer warned companies to upgrade from XP. Following Ballmer, Gavriella Schuster, Senior Director in Windows Product Management group urges businesses to upgrade to Windows Vista now, even if they plan to move to Windows 7 when it ships.Schuster argues that the benefits of Vista upgrade would outweigh the costs of upgrading to Vista and urges companies to start Windows 7 Beta testing as soon as possible.
- Companies that skip Vista are at risk of their software vendors halting support to Windows XP before Windows 7 arrives.
- Due to the similarity in code base for Vista and Windows 7, companies which upgrade to Vista now can enjoy a smoother upgrade to Windows 7 compared with the risky move straight from XP to Windows 7.
- Deploying a new PC with Vista is cheaper than installing XP on it and then later move it to Windows 7.
- Companies that stay on XP will miss the forthcoming Vista SP 2's improved security and stability.
Paul DeGroot, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft notes that Microsoft makes similar routine arguments during every major OS transition. However, he feels those reasons are not sufficient to get companies move to Vista. DeGroot remaines unconvinced and says even with Vista's improved deployment tools, an in-place upgrade is one of the most costly and difficult projects for an IT department and he hasn't heard of any software vendors, including Microsoft, making an announcement of halting the support to XP apps before Windows 7 arrives. DeGroot concludes most companies will wait till Windows 7 ships or move to Vista only as they get new PC's.
Image courtesy: cnet news
Nearly a 3rd of companies listened to Microsoft's call and are deploying Vista in North America and Europe. Another 27% plans to deploy Vista in 2009 or 2010. However, a survey by Gartner shows that about 30% of large businesses are likely to skip Vista and many haven't decided what to do. Only a few are set to deploy both Windows Vista and Windows 7 as soon as possible.
Microsoft has also launched a new blog, Windows for your Business to market Windows to its corporate customers in which Schuster talks about Microsoft's plans to help reduce the IT costs of commercial customers who are looking at deploying Vista.
Fat chance ISVs are going to stop supporting a widely used OS before 7 goes RTM.
Dropping support for the world's most widely deployed desktop OS, and it's close counterpart Server 2003? Not likely.
Churn operating systems twice in a short time period, and (except for Software Assurance customers) pay for Windows upgrades twice? Again, not likely. Also, how is moving from XP to Vista less risky than going straight to 7?
True, it does take time to run the reinstall (or the reimaging disc many OEMs provide), but running a mixed NT5/NT6 environment isn't without its costs either.
Hm? XP and Vista are both about as stable as one could reasonably expect, and security patches for both will be delivered for quite a while. SP2 isn't going to be the patch to end all patching. Vista's current issues are speed, interface awkwardness, and compatibility. Windows 7 addresses the former two head-on, and compatibility is a wound that time has been healing nicely.
Even if Windows Vista is "bleh", hardware cycles are far more important than software ones. If hardware were to break today, testing adequate Windows 7 support would be a nightmare if a company has been dealing only with XP up until then.
Migrating from Vista to Windows 7 would in fact be much more smoother.
Sounds pointless to me.
Smell that? That's MS marketing hard at work.
Even with SA, there's still a cost incurred by upgrading to Vista and then 7, but MS doesn't benefit (directly) from it. Instead the cost is the time and potential headaches that the IT staff will have to spend on it.
If you look carefully, Microsoft recommends to those who are waiting for Windows 7 to ensure they have support for critical business applications and to evaluate Windows 7 early and thoroughly. They don't say "Noooo don't wait, get Vista now foolz lolz!"
They also suggest that organizations who are undecided should consider Vista to make the transition to 7 easier.
There's no FUD here, no pressure to get Vista. Just some considerations and guidance on the upgrade. Microsoft isn't stupid, they know not everyone will go to Vista before Windows 7. And they know that while there are many benefits, it's not going to be appropriate for every organization.
It's unfortunate that actually READING Neowin's posted articles is just too much work for some people before they rush in with their ignorance.
"Ok, we didn't make near as much money from Vista as we wanted to, and now Windows 7 will come out soon... let's make a last attempt and see if we can't find a few more clueless, gullible people we can sell it to. Last chance now, once Windows 7 is out, it will be as hard to sell Vista as selling a refrigerator to an eskimo."
Besides that - "the risks of skipping Vista"!? :rofl:
I'll gladly pass up on the "risk" of not wasting my money on a putrid pile of donkey dung, thank you very much.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.