Businesses warned against skipping Vista

[Boeing 787]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000...39291367,00.htm

Planning to skip Windows Vista altogether and wait for Microsoft's next operating system instead?

For some companies it's a tempting option, but they need to consider it carefully or they could end up feeling some pain down the line, according to analyst group Gartner.

Gartner said companies have "significantly delayed" the start of their Windows Vista migrations, with most now planning to begin deployment in late 2008 or even 2009, making some think of skipping Vista altogether.

But Gartner research vice president Michael Silver has warned that the next version of Windows ? code-named "Windows 7" ? may also suffer from the delays that dogged Vista and be just as difficult to adopt.

"Organisations that tried to skip Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP often had ISV support issues and a difficult and rushed or forced migration. Organisations that try to skip Windows Vista are likely to undergo the same perils," the Gartner research warned.

[Shof]

sooner or later they will have to update to the latest OS

[MaJoR]

sooner or later they will have to update to the latest OS

Not necessarily. I have seen a ton of corporate systems that skipped XP and kept windows 2000.

[Boeing 787]

The article is about how vendors will stop supporting Windows XP. In 2010 there may not be official support for the software a business needs to run on Windows XP because the vendor has moved on to Vista and the vendor may not be ready for Windows 7.

Some software vendors have warned us that they will drop all support for both Windows XP and 32 bit. We will need Vista 64 to get official support for our workstations. Of course a quad core with 8 Gigs of memory is going to need a 64 bit OS anyways.

[MGS4-SS]

sooner or later they will have to update to the latest OS

Or go the Apple way.

[revvo]

sooner or later they will have to update to the latest OS

Many companies are running 2K, companies big like Pratt & Whitney. Unless what you develop needs frameworks available only on a specific OS, there is no need to upgrade.

Upgrading is an expensive and time consuming process. There should always be very good reasons why to upgrade an OS so no, I doubt Vista is any reason to upgrade for most companies out there.

[SacrificialSoldier]

sooner or later they will have to update to the latest OS

Why? React OS will have NTFS support by then. Ubuntu and Linux will be far advanced. There will be far more options.

[Quillz]

Not necessarily. I have seen a ton of corporate systems that skipped XP and kept windows 2000.

Yup, my college is still on WinXP and has just recently finished the migration to IE7.

[Samboini]

Why? React OS will have NTFS support by then. Ubuntu and Linux will be far advanced. There will be far more options.

True however I do not see Linux etc. as being suitable for use within (mainstream) corporations for a very long time.

[what]

Or go the Apple way.

Or Linux. Either way their infrastructure will be rock solid and nobody would be forced to update.

Yup, my college is still on WinXP and has just recently finished the migration to IE7.

Our school hasn't even gone to IE7 yet. From what I hear they're planning on installing Firefox instead.

[SacrificialSoldier]

True however I do not see Linux etc. as being suitable for use within (mainstream) corporations for a very long time.

Agreed. So lets stick with ReactOS atm.

Our school hasn't even gone to IE7 yet. From what I hear they're planning on installing Firefox instead.

wohoo! there is one school with good ideas!

[williamhook]

My dad's work laptop is still on Windows 2000, believe it or not. :laugh:

[Janitor]

I like the 'switch to Linux, Mac'

They are business, Mac would be too expensive and i for one if i was running a business wouldn't want to mess around with Linux.

[Brody McKee]

Not necessarily. I have seen a ton of corporate systems that skipped XP and kept windows 2000.

And now they use Vista or are they still operating 7 years in the past? If it's the latter, then they don't really count as they are really screwed.

[markwolfe Veteran]

True however I do not see Linux etc. as being suitable for use within (mainstream) corporations for a very long time.

Several years ago, there was a semi-famous case where Ernie Ball (guitar strings) switched all their computers to Linux. It was after a BSA raid, then Microsoft published "Don't be like Ernie Ball" to other area businesses when they came around for their sales and licensing pitch.

If Linux was ready several years ago for at least one large business that operates world-wide, why is it hard to believe that others may benefit from it? Not saying everyone could, but suitable depending on your setup and needs? Heck, yeah.

As for our company, we had workstations still on NT4 until about 9 months ago. Some desktops are still on Win2000, and operate just fine. Most of these desktops are planned to be migrated to XP. I don't know if the corporation has a Vista plan or not at this point.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Not necessarily. I have seen a ton of corporate systems that skipped XP and kept windows 2000.

The place I used to work with was all using Windows 98.

The notion that "it's new, and you should upgrade" really doesn't mean anything in the business world, they'll only upgrade if it meets their needs and such (Which is why you'll still see major places running on NT4 and such, they have no need to replace their infrastructure)

[Witt3439]

Since Microsoft has vowed to support XP until 2014 and provide Mainstream support until April 2009, I doubt that it would be absolutely necessary for businesses to upgrade to Vista.

With Windows 7 due out in 2010 (as of now), I can see a lot of businesses sticking with XP until 2011 or so, until Windows 7 has a chance to prove itself or bust, and then businesses can make a decision to go with either Windows 7 or Vista.

Plus, with XP support extended until 2014, it will give EVERYONE a chance to see which OS is going to perform better, consumers and businesses.

Who know, maybe by the time 7 comes out, Vista might be stable and fast like XP is now, but then again Vista just may be the biggest pile of garbage in Microsoft history and go on to prove itself to be the reincarnation of Windows Me like a lot of people say that it is!

Only time will tell!!!

[ANova]

I have to wonder if Gartner was paid off by Microsoft to suggest such a thing. As some have mentioned, there are quite a few businesses as well as governments that are still running win2k. There is absolutely no reason to upgrade unless the os offers significant benefits in one form or another and neither XP nor Vista do that over 2k for the most part. Vista is just plain bad all around for businesses, it offers nothing and it runs much slower. If windows 7's performance is more along the lines of XP's than that alone will be a much better reason to wait whether it is delayed or not.

[TruckWEB]

I have to wonder if Gartner was paid off by Microsoft to suggest such a thing. As some have mentioned, there are quite a few businesses as well as governments that are still running win2k. There is absolutely no reason to upgrade unless the os offers significant benefits in one form or another and neither XP nor Vista do that over 2k for the most part. Vista is just plain bad all around for businesses, it offers nothing and it runs much slower. If windows 7's performance is more along the lines of XP's than that alone will be a much better reason to wait whether it is delayed or not.

+1 on that. I also know that many businesses "more or less" follow Gartner when it comes to IT. So, if Microsoft needed to push Vista, paying Gartner would be a good idea....

We are currently deploying Windows XP SP2 at work (governement, National Defence - Quebec). We don't feel the rush to move to Vista. I just wonder how many PC's would need to be upgraded to be able to run fine with Vista. Imagine the budget required.... Wow.

[Japlabot]

It would make sense for large businesses to prepare a Vista implementation plan should they need it, but I think that XP is here to stay, and support will be extended until at least Windows 7.

[Hurmoth]

I have to wonder if Gartner was paid off by Microsoft to suggest such a thing. As some have mentioned, there are quite a few businesses as well as governments that are still running win2k. There is absolutely no reason to upgrade unless the os offers significant benefits in one form or another and neither XP nor Vista do that over 2k for the most part. Vista is just plain bad all around for businesses, it offers nothing and it runs much slower. If windows 7's performance is more along the lines of XP's than that alone will be a much better reason to wait whether it is delayed or not.

+1

There's no way my company is upgrading to Vista, everyone at work hates what we've seen so far and as long as our current software works with XP and 2000, then we're going to stick with XP and 2000.

There's no way the most companies are going to drop support for XP, that's stupid to even try and argue considering that most companies still support 2000 and XP.

[Evolution]

I thought security and viruses was a huge deal to businesses.... which Vista fixes.... I guess they don't care about that anymore :/ Not to mention policies in Vista are far more granular allowing Admins to create better policies and distribute them easily.

[markwolfe Veteran]

I thought security and viruses was a huge deal to businesses.... which Vista fixes....

I've said this before, and I guess I will say it again, security is not a product.

A business can be perfectly secure using Win2k or XP as their desktops, and just keep updated, with proper malware detection and security policies.

In other words, security is a process.

[Hurmoth]

I thought security and viruses was a huge deal to businesses.... which Vista fixes.... I guess they don't care about that anymore :/ Not to mention policies in Vista are far more granular allowing Admins to create better policies and distribute them easily.

I have been using XP since 2001 and have never gotten a virus on my system, it is all about smart surfing and for businesses, as long as there's a good anti-virus and gateway filter, then there really shouldn't be a problem.

Vista doesn't really fix viruses though, viruses that break XP break Vista too. Vista has to many problems for businesses to switch to, at least at this point.

[azz0r_wugg]

Or go the Apple way.

*giggles* not likely