Why Vista is a bad idea for your business
Scott Ryan , February 27, 2008
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Last year Microsoft reluctantly admitted that migrating from XP to Vista might be a bad business decision. The company extended the shelf life of Windows XP until 2010, the year Microsoft will deliver its replacement for Vista. Most larger organizations have delayed or cancelled their Vista deployments, opting to extend the life of XP for two more years.
Most IT managers explain that Vista places an unecessary burden on hardware (desktops running Vista require significantly more horsepower) and on help desk personnel (doubling the workload for most help desks). Vista provides no additional features for business users. Running Vista at home has a few advantages including the ability to watch videos and DVDs more dynamically. As a business owner do you really want to make it easier for your employees to watch movies? Running Vista on your shiney new home computer may make a lot of sense, but when you are responsible for 10,50,100 or 1000 business computers your main objective is keeping the systems running so that your employees are able to do their jobs.
Our experience with Vista has been very negative. To date, we have not found a single business owner interested in upgrading to the new operating system; however, we have found that some users will stop by Best Buy or Costco and purchase a new laptop with Vista pre-installed without consulting anyone at their company or at Architel. Soon they become frustrated that it doesn’t work very well with their corporate network.
Just a few of the problems these users experience with Vista: Remote access is often limited, security is too restrictive, their new hardware doesn’t run as well as their old hardware on XP, most older and newer hardware lacks drivers for Vista, the start menu has been completely overhauled causing most users to become confused, rebooting takes LONGER in Vista, the new/cool Aero UI is great to look at, but very slow, adding and removing programs is almost impossible, windows compatible software often shuts down randomly, IE7 runs poorly in Vista versus XP, the sidebar is a resource hog, no ‘open with’ when right clicking a file, but at the end of the day ~ it just doesn’t work very well and tends to cause the user to spend more time trying to fix their computer and complaining about having to get their computer fixed than actually using the computer.
Our question to those users who make the decision to purchase Vista on their own, “Why do you need Vista?” We can’t find a single reason for any business user to switch from XP. NOT A SINGLE REASON. On the other hand, I can provide hundreds of reasons not to. It isn’t just us, almost everyone agrees:
Windows Vista Sucks Performance, CRN Test Center
There’s No Doubt: Vista Sucks, PC World
Amid disappointing Vista uptake, Microsoft relents on XP execution, Server Central
Vista is Still Plagued by Incompatibilities, PC World
Mother’s Ire Puts Ballmer on Defense over Vista, PC World
Why People Hate Vista, InfoWorld
Vista SP1 is Even Less Compatible, Slashdot
Time for a Vista Do-Over?, Slashdot
The Pestilence called Microsoft Vista, Inc Magazine
Windows Vista SP1 Problem, Architel News
Quit Installing Vista! People Please, Architel News
Windows Vista SP1 Problem
Alexander Muse , February 20, 2008
For those of you who have installed Vista (i.e. hopefully none of our clients), SP1 is causing problems for some users. From Nick White of the Vista team:
We’ve heard a few reports about problems customers may be experiencing as a result of KB937287, the servicing stack update I blogged about last week, and I wanted to provide a quick update for you. Immediately after receiving reports of this error, we made the decision to temporarily suspend automatic distribution of the update to avoid further customer impact while we investigate possible causes.
So far, we’ve been able to determine that this problem only affects a small number of customers in unique circumstances. We are working to identify possible solutions and will make the update available again shortly after we address the issue.
Customers who may be experiencing this issue can use system restore to correct it or contact 1-866-PC-Safety for help troubleshooting. Additional guidance will be available via Microsoft’s free Update Support Center soon.
Architel Anniversary!
Alexander Muse , February 2, 2008
Can you believe Architel has been in business for seven years and offering flat-fee service for five years to the day? It seems like we started just yesterday!
Quit installing Vista! People, please!
Alexander Muse , February 1, 2008
Open letter to all Architel customers:
PLEASE STOP INSTALLING VISTA ON YOUR PCs. DO NOT GO TO THE STORE AND BUY CONSUMER GRADE PCs WITH VISTA Pre-INSTALLED. PLEASE, STOP THE MADNESS. In all seriousness, unless your company has made the emotional and financial decision to move to Vista having one ore two Vista machines in your network can be very detrimental to your business and your mental health. Lots of software, systems and equipment doesn’t work properly with Vista ~ it STILL isn’t ready for prime-time. Ask yourself, “what is wrong with XP?”
Stores all over the country are offering consumers Vista to XP conversions. This is a nationwide problem for consumers. Don’t make it a problem for your business. As seen at a small PC repair shop:
