AWH Weblog » Viva for Vista!

Viva for Vista!

Mark Leidlein In our last (or is that first?) issue Brent and Jesse gave us their impressions of Office 2007. It seems to hold great promise but there are definitely hurdles to implementing it in your organization. It appears that many of the same issues hold true for Vista.

Measuring the ROI of an OS is always a challenge because it’s typically easier to measure the value of the applications that run under it. So for Vista I thought I would focus on the impact to the IT staff and ease of use for the user base. As Monty Python used to say, “And now for something completely different!”

My experience is somewhat limited. I just received my new Dell with a Dual-Core Pentium and 2GB of RAM – a pretty quick system. We were not converting any old applications and I am currently running the full suite of Office 07 along with a few other support programs, so it’s a fairly clean installation.

One problem is drivers. Yep, this one got me, but it wasn’t too bad. It started with the Microsoft wireless mouse, then the USB driver for the docking station, and then the sound port on the docking station. (Gotta have my music.) Time spent researching drivers equals negative ROI. However, Vista did a good job analyzing the problem and automatically returned the site URL for getting an updated driver. It’s a process they call self healing, which yields a positive ROI. I see this as a mixed message for the support staff and users. As time goes on, the driver issue will become less of a problem but in the interim, plan on spending more time here than you initially anticipated (or have become used to with XP).

There are some other Vista features that seem worthwhile:

Meeting Space – a nice little collaboration tool for networked PCs to share screens and commentary. Seemed easier to use than some of the other tools like NetMeeting.
Refined Search Bar – shows up in the lower left corner and gives you access to search for just about anything on your system.
Built in calendar – more readily available than Outlook’s.
ReadyBoost – this one’s just kind of cool. It can actually use a compatible USB thumb drive as an extension of system memory. I haven’t tried it yet but this could definitely help with some applications.
Gadgets – I’m sure you’ve heard about these. They are little applets that run in the background and appear in a special window on your desktop. Currently I run a weather gadget (I could look out the window for this same information), and a CPU clock. They are fun but I think their real value is in demonstrating the true potential of Vista as a vastly improved OS for software development.

My biggest complaint – Vista does not boot any faster than XP. However, it does appear to have more reliable Sleep and Hibernate modes, that when used properly, will reduce the need for a full start. Another big plus for the IT group is the fact that the tablet OS is now part of Vista. This will reduce the requirement to support a separate operating system in mixed environments.

I have to admit that Vista has been running pretty reliably. I have only had it hang once so far. There are also new security features that allow the IT staff more flexibility in locking down workstations to prevent unwanted software from being loaded. In the long run this could be a tremendous asset to your staff as they likely end up having everyone set up with administrator rights. Otherwise, they get a call every 5 minutes because one program or another won’t run, but then they also get to deal with the viruses of other rogue applications that come along.

Bottom line – not bad. It’s taken a few weeks to figure out where some of my menu selects are hidden but overall I find things work pretty well. There is definitely a long term payoff to Vista in terms of “potentially” reduced support efforts as well OS and networking reliability. However Vista is still new and you will find yourself challenged by drivers, older system compatibility and other issues. But as we all know Microsoft progress is inevitable and you can pay them now or pay them later.