J. Peter Bruzzese over at InfoWorld brings up the topic of back lash against Microsoft’s latest desktop operating system. He points out some interesting facts that adhere to some of my own plans concerning deployment of Vista on a large scale especially where evaluation is concerned.

Quote:

“Here were some of their key findings:

* 48 percent of respondents indicate that their organization is evaluating, testing, or implementing Vista. That doesn't sound dead to me.
* 30 percent of respondents have organizations that are currently implementing or have already implemented Vista.
*50 percent of the respondents said Vista is performing "above expectation" on key features.”

I have been rolling out some new Dell Optiplex 755 systems for the past 4 weeks at a Government Agency and the procurement includes both Windows Vista Business and XP Professional media. The systems are preloaded with XP because they are just not ready for Vista, some of the custom applications need to be updated. But Vista is definitely on their agenda, but it will take some time before they start rolling it out and it will most likely be incremental.

Quote:

“…there are enhancements to Group Policy settings (over 800 new settings in Vista) that allow for a greater level of administrative control over such items as power use. These days, we are all about going green, and here Vista is an OS that can help us thanks to the added ability to adjust the amount of power your system uses. Other enhancements allow for greater security control within the enterprise, preventing users from plugging in USB devices and other removable media, User Account Control, and more.

Vista also introduces BitLocker protection which is great for encrypting your entire system. Hundreds of thousands of laptops with confidential company data on them are lost or stolen each year. Without encryption of the drive, it is just a matter of time before a thief can access the contents. With BitLocker, that worry is removed. As a business person -- perhaps one who has had their laptop stolen -- would you mock that level of protection? Most likely not.”

Waiting on Windows 7 to skip Vista does not make sense especially for businesses, since the same kernel will be used which means, any incompatibilities today moving from XP to Vista will also be there when trying to move from XP to 7. The strategy for most enterprise roll outs is to use a proven and tested product, which Vista will further be by 2010, by then the second Service Pack should also be out. I don't see a mass deployment of Windows 7, its the same case for most versions of Windows in the past.

We need to also understand how businesses procure licenses and software from Microsoft. That's through Software Assurance and Enterprise Agreement. Which means Vista is on their schedule, not Microsoft. We are talking about an OS that Microsoft plans to support until 2016.

I don't know what users find so drastically different about Aero that they use it as a deterrent to not move to Vista. Yes, the interface has made improved changes. For instance the unwieldy cascading All Programs menu has been tamed by the new searchable interface and a more friendly hierarchical structure. Yes, shutting down your computer is different because of the single menu, but Microsoft is recommending users hibernate their computers instead of shutting them down. So, that's the only hurdle I see to overcome. Users moving from 2000 can still enable the Windows Classic theme if they need the time to get acquainted with the changes to Explorer.

Then again, I am not forcing anyone to move to Vista based on XP's ability to stay secure in the foreseeable future. Since Microsoft obviously must believe that XP is secure enough to be around even in 2010 on netbooks.

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