Best Practice Ezine #74 Vista - What will you do?

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Vista - What will you do?

When 2006 arrived, there was no perceptible change in the day length and the weather was just as foul, it seemed much like 2005.  However, regarding Vista, there seems greater urgency to take action when you think: 'Vista will be released later in this year (2006)', than if you say, 'Vista will be out at the end of next year'.

My mission is to help you think about Vista.  I want to persuade you to plan for a Vista upgrade.  Next week I will describe some of Vista's new features, but this week I want to put the case for emotional and political reasons for upgrading to Vista.

Three Choices for your Operating System

1. Go Thin Client

2. Upgrade to Vista

3. Avoid Microsoft

I have planted the seed in my own mind that one day I could just use a browser to run my email inbox, Word and Excel.  Moreover, all my data could be stored online; in which case, I would not need a powerful operating system.  However, this time around I will upgrade to Vista and then decide 3 years down the line if my above vision is viable.

Everyone must at least consider alternatives to Microsoft, for example, switch to Star Office, Linux and Mozilla.  Aside of cost, for me no replacement offers the integration that you get from MS Office, Vista (XP) and IE7.0.

Notice that I did not give the option to do nothing.  The nearest choice to do nothing is upgrade to Vista, but not until 2008.

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Emotional Reasons to Upgrade

Could anything really be better than XP?  The only way for me to convince you that the answer is yes, is to persuade you to trial Vista.  It's now in Beta 2, 90% fully functional, a little slow because of the extra checking code.  To get your Vista Beta 2 version, Google "connect microsoft". 

Emotionally, the decision is not about itemising features, it's about trying Vista for a couple of hours and asking, 'Is this good, is this worth the upgrade'.  Guy says a resounding yes.

Logical Decisions

In a nutshell are you impressed with Vista's new look and feel?  Do the new graphics really give you better visual clues?  I say yes, especially for those over 45, with their weakening eye sight.  The best logical feature in Vista is the fusion of Internet Explorer with Windows Explorer into practically the same interface. 

As far as disruption is concerned, plan for one upgrade to Vista.  Avoid upgrading XP to IE7.0, on security grounds, then an upgrading to Vista  Plan for just one upgrade straight to Vista.  There are zillions of other new features, and I will cover some next week, but the key logical decision is, does the new look and feel justify an upgrade?

Political Lobbying

As I don't know your company politics, my political arguments are more like emotional blackmail than pure politics.  I suggest you plant the question, 'Do we want to work for a company where people have better computers at home than they do at work?  Can we entice, or even keep, good people if we use Windows 98, W2KPro or XP while all our competitors have Vista?'

Financial Planning

Incidentally, I have just changed my car; I upgraded from a 6 year old Ford Focus to a 1 year old Ford Focus.  I mention this only in case you think that I fit the stereotype of always wanting the latest gadget.

Make the calculation for total cost of ownership.  How much will we save by having securer computers, for example, Vista wireless networks for laptops, IE 7.0 anti Phishing.  Some of Vista's new features such as encryption and Aero graphics may not work 100% with old disks and old graphics cards.

My main advice here is put down a marker, tell the financial director that you believe that your company should upgrade to Vista in the first quarter of 2007, and that having new desktops and laptops is more cost effective than upgrading existing kit.

For small companies, the case for new kit with Vista is even more compelling, it always costs much more time than you think to migrate user settings to a new operating system on old kit.  Much simpler to buy new machines bundled with Vista

Conclusion - How to Upgrade to Vista

Spend no money on new machines in 2006, save your money and plan to buy new Vista machines in spring 2007.  However, do start spending your time lobbying the decision makers and financial directors for the money to make the upgrade to Vista.

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