| August 2006 |
| Microsoft promises its next-generation operating system will finally begin shipping in November. Most IT professionals in Windows shops, even if they’re not anticipating an immediate upgrade to Vista, are at least planning to look under the hood, and also pencil in a migration timeline. Here’s where to start, what Vista might do for you, and what to look out for. |
| By Mathew Schwartz |
Are you ready for Windows Vista? Microsoft says it will release its oft-delayed, next-generation operating system (OS) to large enterprise customers this fall, and to the general public in February 2007.
The new Windows OS has been a long time coming, notes Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm. “Vista will be the first major update to the operating system in nearly five years.”
Enterprises, however, hardly appear to be storming toward Vista adoption. According to a global survey of over 4,000 business and IT professionals conducted earlier this year, only 12 percent of companies will adopt Vista within a year of its release. Over half of respondents characterized a Vista upgrade as “more of a chore than an opportunity,” and many companies plan to wait at least until the Service Pack 1 update appears.
In short, Vista doesn’t appear to be an easy sell. Regardless, as a technologist, it behooves you to study not just Vista’s new user interface, but also what’s under the hood, and to determine your own company’s business case — or lack thereof — for migrating to Vista
Here’s where to start:
1) Calculate the ROI of Vista’s Improvements
Most IT executives want a strong business case before adopting new software. So which Vista features offer the greatest potential return on investment (ROI)? “Unsurprisingly, nothing to do with the jazzed-up user interface,” reports Jon Collins, principal analyst for IT-business research firm Macehiter Ward-Dutton (MWD), based in Cambridge, England. Rather, begin by looking at “better security, easier collaboration and — for users of local files — better indexing and finding of local information,” he says. “Microsoft is also touting higher reliability and better diagnostics when things go wrong.”
In fact, Microsoft expressly designed some Vista features with ROI in mind. “To tackle the upgrade apathy, Microsoft has included new capabilities to overcome what it sees as the most common enterprise customer pain points,” notes Simon Yates, an analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. Such capabilities include easier large-scale deployment, better Group Policy controls, and just a more secure OS.
Vista’s built-in security features may mean you’ll pay less for third-party security add-ons. Yankee’s Kerravala, for example, predicts many companies will adopt Vista’s built-in firewall and anti-spyware features, though he thinks most will pass on Microsoft’s antivirus and network access controls.
2) Map Dependencies
With any OS upgrade, you face inevitable risks. “Operating system migration is not a smooth process, and often this has nothing to do with the operating system, but more the rat’s nest of dependencies in which the OS is only one twig,” says Collins. “Trouble is, it’s quite a significant twig.”
Thus, if you plan to upgrade to Vista sooner or later, “the first thing an organization needs to do is understand these dependencies, and be able to draw a map that shows where desktop PCs fit into the scheme of things,” he says. Examples of dependencies include “database interfaces, device compatibility, driver availability, application binary compatibility, DLL dependencies, storage management, and so on.”
Expect Vista to be incompatible with at least some of your existing PC applications and IT management software, including application deployment and patch management tools, plus many legacy applications. Note this can create “significant migration costs,” cautions Yates.
3) Pick an Upgrade Path
Vista runs best on PCs with at least 1 to 2 gigabytes of RAM and a graphics card with 128 or more megabytes of RAM, which is more muscle than many current PCs possess. Thus your Vista upgrade plan will likely revolve around when you’re due to replace your PCs.
Should you upgrade to Vista piecemeal, or en masse? Medium-size or large companies frequently replace PCs all at once, or not at all. Of course many companies have recently “refreshed” their PCs, and hence may not do so again for some time. “With XP migrations coming to a close, for the first time firms have a single, stable client operating system that meets their users’ needs,” says Yates. They’re in no hurry to change that.
Furthermore, trying to support Vista and another Windows OS at the same time may double your management workload, since some Vista features, such as User Account Control (to limit users to least-privilege access), simply aren’t compatible with Windows 2000 or XP. So consider upgrading to Vista all at once.
4) What’s Your Risk Tolerance?
As mentioned, most of your peers plan to delay Vista adoption, and this should also affect your timing. “Windows Vista is currently regarded as just another Windows release within IT professional circles,” notes a report from MWD. “The assumption by most is that adoption is inevitable, but there is no need to rush. In fact, the logic commonly heard is that the longer you wait, the lower the risk and pain will be.”
If you’re not planning to upgrade to Vista immediately, how long might you wait? “Enterprises that don’t want to be on the bleeding edge should defer upgrades until mid-2008, at the earliest, to permit third-party software packages and systems management tools to mature,” recommends Kerravala.
5) Await Proof of Success (or Incentives)
What OS do you currently use? Companies still on Windows 2000 may want to delay upgrading even longer than 2008. According to a survey conducted last year, nine percent of PCs still run Windows 2000, and “you have at least until June 2010 before [Microsoft’s] extended support ends,” notes Forrester Research analyst Laura Koetzle. Upgrading from Windows 2000 will require substantial expenditures for new, Vista-capable hardware, software, and infrastructure. Consider waiting for a PC refresh, and upgrading infrastructure over time, so you’ll be more Vista-ready down the road.
Interestingly, despite the relatively easy migration path predicted for Windows XP shops, they won’t necessarily upgrade soon, says Yates. “Firms are more interested in stability and consistency in the PC environment than in new features, and Windows XP meets the vast majority of its users’ needs.”
Thus many companies’ wait-and-see attitude to Vista isn’t surprising. “Truth be told, it is becoming increasingly difficult for enterprises to spot OS features that would really make sufficient difference to their user base or operational profile” to justify migrating, notes Collins. “ROI is about benefits minus costs. The costs of migration are significant, and the benefits are, to an extent, incremental.”
Mathew Schwartz is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Cambridge, Mass.
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