Business in UK is in no rush to move up to the latest iteration of the Windows operating system, Vista. With the long history of security problems seen in earlier versions it seems business wants to adopt a wait and see approach. And who can blame them when there are viable alternatives such as Mac OS X and Linux. This version of the Microsoft system may well be fit as a fiddle with respects to security (yes, I’m staying positive…and will continue to use my Mac).
The relative reliability and security of Windows XP is one reason why many organisations are in no hurry to upgrade to Vista. Steve Clarke, head of internal computing at AOL UK, said Windows XP meets all his business needs.
He said: “Migrating now would mean significant costs with very little business benefit. Upgrading in a few years’ time will mean most of our desktop kit will have an OEM licence and there’ll be a couple of Service Packs out. Then, with costs much lower, it might make sense, but I’m still struggling to work out what the business benefits will be.”
And this may be the biggest hurdle other than security. Then why? What’s in for business to upgrade? I’m not taking shots at Microsoft, as I frequently did in the past. But rather, what are the selling points? Other than the “oooh shiny” factor I’m not seeing the benefit myself.
UPDATE: Then again, here is an analyst that thinks Vista will be a hit. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Vista is set to be released to corporate customers November 30th.
UPDATE 2: After having spoken with “A” I have hit upon a selling point that would be ideal for corporate environments. With Vista you have the ability to apply multiple local policies to a system rather than the XP “one size fits all” approach.
UPDATE 3: And we have the negative aspect here of the Vista EULA. Mark Rasch, at Securityfocus, has analyzed EULA (something that most people never do) and has some disturbing findings.
Does the Microsoft EULA adequately tell you what will happen if you don’t activate the product or if you can’t establish that it is genuine? Well, not exactly. It does tell you that some parts of the product won’t work – but it also ambiguously says that the product itself won’t work. Moreover, it allows Microsoft, through fine print in a generally unread and non negotiable agreement, to create an opportunity for economic extortion.
For the full article click here.
[tags]Vista Security, Microsoft Vista, Vista Upgrade, Vista EULA[/tags]
