FSN: Vista: should you jump ship?

Vista : should you jump ship?

12th February 2007
Microsoft has talked about Windows Vista being at the heart of a new, interactive, personalised experience for consumers, but what does its arrival really mean for business and what are the real benefits? Mark Dye , FSN contributing editor reports

Vista Desktop

Unless you've been burying your head in the sand of late you will have heard of Vista , Microsoft's latest Windows release. It's said that the successor to XP will usher in a new dawn for UK businesses in terms of functionality. But as they say, the grass isn't always greener on the other side and companies should think carefully about the consequences of making such a switch.

However, with the dust barely settled post launch, Microsoft is confident its flagship product will redefine the way we do business and use our PCs. With Vista available in more than 70 countries and more than 1.5 million devices and peripherals already on the market that work with it, 2500 of which are Vista Certified, it's going to be difficult to ignore. But behind all the propaganda what does it really mean for those in IT and finance?

"For IT, better stability, but mainly better security," says Clive Longbottom, service director, Business Process Analysis, at analysts Quocirca. Certainly, improvements in key areas surrounding functionality and security have been welcomed by all and according to Paul Russell, head of consulting at Servo Computer Services, the new solution presents several of these.

"If you're using a laptop for a lot of your working day and you need to transport sensitive information, then there's a lot of nice functionality in Vista that helps you to maintain security while enabling mobile working," he says. Central in this is the ability to find documents or contracts no matter which drive you've stored them on by just clicking on the new 'pearl' in Vista's set-up. "Once you start using Vista , it's actually quite difficult to go back to using XP," he says.

And it is this efficiency in dealing with information and organising records which Microsoft hopes will be one of its biggest selling points. Even so, we are unlikely to see major changes straightaway in business, as there will be an adoption curve associated for any company attempting to make the move across. IT managers will need to test Vista with their applications before rolling it out across the company and this will take time.

Quocirca's Longbottom suggests; "Very few companies will move straight away. Apart from the security model, there's not much extra at a business level," he says. "For most, it will be a time to look at Vista and pilot, and see what there is there for them. We'd advise that a Vista upgrade is done at the same time as Office 2007. A single project beats two any day."

One good idea would be to combine this with server side work such as Longhorn, Exchange 2007, Sharepoint 2007 and SQLServer 2007 which would mean that the project would be cost effective even if there was slightly more in the way of risk associated with the move.

Russell argues that there are 'compelling' reasons for going Vista . These surround those companies that have dispersed workforces or are mobile for much of the time and those looking for server collaboration. Here, Microsoft is promoting its EVO model, or Exchange, Vista and Office 2007, as it is better known.

"Adoption of all of these will be more beneficial than Vista on its own. For example if you are planning to roll out a CRM solution, it will be the application that will encourage a business to migrate and if you have a dispersed workforce, EVO will be a more powerful proposition," he adds.

For Longbottom the new security model represents a pretty big move for Microsoft, using the idea of 'sandpits so that changes in one area do not impact on another. "On the downside," he says, "there's the need for pretty decent machines to get all the bells and whistles, and a learning curve for users to move from the known environment to the new."

Mind you, for those of us with elements of a mobile workforce, the omens look good. The new 'Bit Locker' feature in Vista ensures that IT managers have the ability to encrypt the hard drive of laptops using features in the operating system itself rather than relying on third party software. This, says Russell, means that the encryption key can be stored on a USB stick. So, for those of us prone on leaving laptops in the back of a taxi (think Mi5), even if someone cracks your password the hard drive will be encrypted because you'll still have the USB stick with the encryption key.

"You can also lock Vista down more easily than earlier versions of Windows, using its group policies," he explains. "So, for example, you can ensure that only your brokers are able to use USB sticks and then only devices from a particular manufacturer." This puts an end to staff using their own devices to download company or customer data, or worse still, using devices that they have been given as freebies by outside parties. Again, the risk of losing corporate data via USB sticks is minimised here.

According to Longbottom, enterprises should be looking closely at whether they feel well enough protected from both external and internal threats that Vista security is a 'nice to have' rather than a necessity. Then there's the question of moving to Office 2007 and whether these upgrades should be made together?

Sweeping changes need to be very carefully levelled against cost and disruption to users, but also against your technical team's ability to manage the implementations. Remember, these guys are going to need training too. "Direct costs are pretty much around hardware updates and replacements - for many customers, software assurance will mean that they will have the licences anyway," adds Longbottom.

One thing to bear in mind is that anti virus and spyware software may need to be totally replaced if you choose to jump rapidly as not all vendors have their Vista versions ready yet.

So, there it is, Vista in a nutshell. Remember the hidden costs and that if PCs or laptops are more than three years old, you may need to upgrade the graphics card to exploit its new features. This applies to other areas too and thankfully Microsoft has provided a tool that you can download to audit hardware for Vista compatibility.

In truth, if you moved to XP last year, you are probably not going to want to bear the costs of another switch and may reap the benefits of waiting a while anyway as industry falls into line with Microsoft's latest incarnation. Having said this, users will have plenty to cheer both visually and in terms of navigation when making the switch to Vista . The result produces a far more intuitive environment and one that should go someway towards redressing recent security issues.

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