NEW YORK — Nov. 30, 2006 — At a press conference at NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square, Microsoft Corp. chief executive officer Steve Ballmer announced the business availability of the Windows Vista operating system, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Exchange Server 2007. Designed to enable businesses to thrive in a world of instant communication, expanding information, and constant change, the new products provide a platform that will transform the way people turn information into opportunity and growth." -Microsoft's press announcement.
Finally, after what has to be the longest rollout in the brief history of PC software and certainly the most intensive beta testing of any operating system, Microsoft has released Vista to its business customers. Every software project regardless of scope or size eventually must be turned free. There always comes a time when we need to say: "Enough. It is what it is, and it's time to release." The timing was a little puzzling. It certainly wasn't based on an anticipated holiday rush to buy the new OS. Gaming machines, such as the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and the Sony PlayStation 3, already had stolen the thunder as well as the liquid assets of Gen-X techies. Besides, anyone who really cared already had installed and used at least one of the betas.
So, the questions remain: Who cares? Who will be willing to shell out the money for a new OS? And most importantly for this columnist, what is the value it will bring to our world? Is there a compelling reason to take advantage of our volume licensing agreements and become an early adopter? Should we anticipate bottom-line growth we can attribute directly to Vista? The insurance industry taught the rest of the business world the value of mainframes. Will the insurance industry lead the charge to Vista? Will Vista truly "transform the way people turn information into opportunity and growth"?
Being the 500-pound gorilla has its disadvantages as well as its advantages. Microsoft clearly controls the universe of desktop operating systems. That has been the case ever since a young Bill Gates made the best business decision of the 20th century–the decision to license his disk operating system to IBM rather then sell it outright. Windows has become the standard for PC operating systems both in the home and in the workplace. Most knowledge workers use essentially the same operating system on their home computers they use on their work computers. That simple fact saves the business world untold sums of money in training costs.
Like it or not, being computer literate has come to mean an ability to navigate your way around a Microsoft OS desktop. Whether Microsoft makes the best or the worst operating system is not a worthwhile part of this discussion. The simple fact is the provider of the software that runs most PCs has released a new version of that software, and we need to decide whether we want to embrace that new version.
There is a clear-cut distinction between evolutionary changes to an operating system and dramatic changes to that system. If an organization with the collective brainpower of Microsoft could create a new operating system completely optimized for the processors and other available hardware today, it would be a far different product than Vista. It might look the same on the screen, but it certainly would look different under the hood. But because its software is the standard, Microsoft always is forced to build upon the previous code base. Vista was built on the Windows Server 2003 code base, which was built on XP, which traces its lineage back to NT 3.51 and DOS. Building on the existing core is essential. A new operating system will self-destruct if it does not:
1. Operate on existing machines–not all machines, but at a minimum, it must work with existing "power" machines. A corollary to this requirement is there should be an easy (and reversible) migration path.
2. Run legacy applications–and that means support for lots of existing and old programming standards: VB, MFC, Java, 16-bit applications, terminal emulators, .NET 1.1, and so on and so forth.
3. Allow users to use the new system without having to be retrained.
Given these requirements, there is an almost foregone conclusion a new OS will be limited in the scope of its improvements. Certainly, it can be expected to provide more features than its predecessor, but there is no assurance it will be more efficient–or it will be better. What is a foregone conclusion is we all will be compelled to upgrade eventually.
Marketing always wins. The Microsoft hype was running full steam during the launch. Windows 95 was credited with helping to popularize the Internet, and Windows XP was touted to have made mobile computing commonplace. I imagine we will have to wait to see what waters Vista will part for us. Maybe it will make us smarter or richer. For now, though, all we need to consider is when we will upgrade–for it is inevitable we will upgrade.
For personal-use computers, the decision is obvious. When you purchase your next machine, you certainly should make the move and expect to pay for the upgrade. Vista requires a powerful system. A 2ghz dual core–2mb box is a good start. You also can expect to pay a bit more for the software itself. The Vista Home Basic version (which doesn't include the new Aero GUI) certainly will go the way of Windows Millennium Edition (bye-bye), which means the user will end up paying for an upgrade to Home Premium or Ultimate.
The cool Aero interface and greater ability to handle high-end and 3D graphics make the OS very attractive for home use. Better protection for the home user is provided via a firewall that protects both inbound and outbound traffic. Other features (DVD maker, Windows media center, vastly improved peer-to-peer networking, lots of small improvements for the home user) make it an imperative a new machine will call for the new operating system.
The decision is not so simple in the business world. Moving to a new standard operating system is going to cost you money and other resources. Your firm's tipping point will depend on how you decide to manage those costs and balance them against a productivity baseline.
There isn't a single new feature that demands we make the switch today. Granted there are a number of very nice improvements that will be welcome. Two that come to mind are both geared to the mobile user. BitLocker Drive Encryption provides a hardware/software solution to protect data. The convenient size and portability of laptops make them susceptible to loss and theft. Combine this with the fact workers who must use laptops probably have access to and need to use restricted or confidential data, and you have a potential for trouble. Witness the recent embarrassing incidents with the Veterans Administration and other organizations.
A corporate standard for encrypting data is a good idea, even though it has been around for some time. Some manufacturers' laptops already come equipped with this functionality out of the box. Vista has much-improved tools for discovering and connecting to wireless networks. This is long overdue.
A clean install no longer requires booting DOS. Instead we use the Windows Preinstall Environment (Windows PE). Windows PE has been available for a while and is a really nifty tool. I have used it on numerous occasions to get onto and into machines that have had catastrophic hardware or software failures. Vista provides the ability to set security policy on USB ports–you finally can quit worrying about thumb drives and other USB storage devices. But these still are just nice-to-have little features, not deal makers. In fact, I think it's safe to say there are no real deal makers here. There is no single feature that is going to make you rush to adopt Vista corporate-wide.
Vista has been available in various betas for more than a year. Its benefits and its problems have been well documented ad infinitum. It would make no sense to rehash what everyone else has spent so much time talking about. The bottom line is the vast majority of us will be making the transition to Vista over the next 12 to 24 months.
It really isn't about the operating system. Most organizations, for better or worse, already have such a significant investment in Microsoft software that moving to open source or another commercial solution isn't feasible. They know this in Redmond, and I believe they take this responsibility seriously. Microsoft has spent millions of man-hours coding, testing, and getting user feedback. If it isn't a better product than XP, it's probably time to dump your Microsoft stock. There will be problems; there will be security exploits; there will be hot fixes and service packs. But at the end of the day, most of us will be using Vista.
A typical large enterprise ideally has maybe three to five different hardware configurations (laptops and desktops) deployed. There are more than likely two to three different standard software configurations loaded onto those machines. Almost certainly, Vista will be the operating system for the next standard software package, but not before it has been extensively tested within the corporate environment. It must be tested on existing hardware platforms. It must be tested with existing legacy corporate applications. It must be tested with new hardware platforms. It must be tested with internal beta users to determine whether any training is necessary. Entire new scripts and scenarios need to be created for first- and second-level help-desk support. Driver support is scary with new operating systems. Vendors always complain they don't get the code base soon enough to roll out new device drivers. Vista has not proved the exception to that rule. I still am having issues with an Intel driver for wireless networking on XP Service Pack 2. That doesn't provide a lot of confidence Vista drivers are ready to rock and roll.
If you don't have a captive agent force, I know you already are testing your policy quoting and submission applications in Vista. Simply because corporate doesn't jump on Vista doesn't guarantee your local agency isn't running its office on a beta version–just like saying a particular Web application works only on IE 6.x won't shut off the calls to your service desk from irate Opera users.
Let's face it. We all know we are going to have to deal with Vista. My advice is: Accept it; don't fight it. But don't rush it, either. Let's learn from everyone else's mistakes. I believe in the old adage "a new operating system isn't ready for prime time until Service Pack 1″–which should be out sometime next fall. TD
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