Bill Veghte from the Windows group at Microsoft sent out a nice big memo to those who still haven’t installed Vista in their enterprises and are waiting for some real improvement before they even consider it. His advice?
Windows Vista offers significant advances in security and productivity and we recommend that enterprises that have not yet deployed it should absolutely evaluate its benefits. If you looked at Windows Vista previously and had concerns, the combination of Service Pack 1 and improvements made by our partners probably fixed many of the issues you were worried about and we encourage you to take a second look.
Translation: Spend more man-hours poring over our software. We’ll wait!
He then goes on to say:
If you have existing PCs running Windows XP, then you can use Windows XP for as long as you need. If you do stay on Windows XP, we recommend you install Service Pack 3 and Internet Explorer 7.
Translation: If you’re not going to drink this Kool-Aid then you might as well stay safe.
Not terribly compelling reasons to leave, Bill or even to stay. I know Microsoft’s whole financial plan involves “selling lots of copies of Windows” but there if Vista ain’t gonna sell, it ain’t gonna sell. Keep trying.
Dear Bill,
Most of my workstations are 4+ year old machines that would require major hardware upgrades if not all out replacement. For what? We are not editing photos or video. Simple spreadsheets, web browsing, email, etc. is really all we need. What we have works fine, thank you. If I need a new workstation I will consider Vista (since it sounds like XP will be hard to come by) but linux is starting to look a whole lot nicer for the desktop.
p.s. I sincerely doubt your promises of increased security and productivity.
bite your tongue!
Why buy into a new system that’s “not that bad”? If you have to buy new equipment, get a Mac.
Dear Microsoft,
The last 2 nights I have had the most fun, the first one trying to get spyware and viruses from a allegedly and supposedly more secure Windows PC (plus Antivirus Software by Norton). The second one trying to keep my stuff alive while carefully reinstalling the whole thing.
If it wasn’t for backups and third party software, all my work would be lost. But being that once is more than enough, right? So imagine what I felt when this happened to me the second time, I know shame on me.
So now I’m born again in Ubuntu GNU/Linux.
Thanks for the ride, don’t expect me to spend a dime on your stuff anymore (or time using it, just to be clear).
PS: What happened to me, you ask? Well it has to do with the spyware messing with my home OS via Policies (which i thought where present only on your Business versions).