How boring the tech “news” sites would be if they couldn’t pick on Vista? This time around the Inquirer suggests that Vista isn’t all that since Intel continues to pass on standardizing its enterprise on Vista. Couldn’t be more wrong. As Ed Bott points out this is nothing new. Intel has made similar decisions in the past with previous versions of Windows. Point is, there’s lots more going on here than whether the current generation of Windows is worthwhile.
Let’s face it, good businesses keep costs down. And setting aside the cost of the licenses, moving a whole organization to a new OS is going to be expensive. So maximizing the use of what you already have is a good idea.
This is the case for Intel and its true for my doctor’s office that still runs Windows 2000. Recently I asked them why they still used 2000. Their responses? Number one: cost. Number two: They really don’t use the OS that much; they stay within the confines of their office medical app. Think about it. For most of what they do, they only need two or three applications and the rest is there for their farmed out IT staff. This is the reality for many in specialized jobs that use computers. The OS has long since been sufficient for them. Isn’t that why Linux has had its opening in the market? Exactly.
Now Microsoft’s challenge is to continue to ease the management of their OS for the little doctors office, the mega-enterprise, and for my neighbor. Why? Because that’s where there’s been too much pain and expense to date. Isn’t that in large part why many of us are migrating our content and work to the Net? It is for me. I don’t like to re-install the OS to clean up a mess I didn’t create. I don’t like spending a half dozen hours adjusting settings to get machines to work together so I can share some particular content. I don’t like managing a network or an email system or on and on. I’ll do it if I have to, but I’d rather spend my time working on what I really want to use computers for.
Microsoft and Apple are continuing to make strides in these regards, but there is still room to go. That’s why I’m sure that when Windows XYZ comes out, the enterprises will eventually move to them too, even if it does take them awhile.