Hasta la Vista
Windows Vista has been available for almost nine months but it would appear that acceptance of the new OS hasn’t been as fast as Microsoft would have liked.
In fact, you don’t have to go far to find stories of people deserting Vista for Windows XP. There have even been reports of users launching their Vista laptops off hotel balconies in frustration.
Criticism of Windows Vista has typically come from two directions: the performance of the platform and issues concerning specific applications that don’t run properly on Vista.
While large corporates have specific policies regarding what operating system they’re willing to run – and many are currently continuing to stipulate Windows XP – they have the ability to ensure that when their PCs are delivered, they’re preconfigured with the correct operating system.
However, small businesses don’t have that luxury, many of them buy their computers and, more specifically, their notebooks through retailers such as Incredible Connection and Makro, where the price point of the product typically determines the operating system. That means that the entry-level systems are preloaded with Vista Home Basic and more expensive systems preloaded with either Vista Home Premium or Vista Business.
The problem facing small business users is that should they get back to the office and find that their accounting application isn’t behaving well with Vista, they may find their cheap laptop isn’t so cheap in the long run.
The problem is that not all versions of Windows Vista allow users to downgrade to XP. In fact, only users of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate Edition are allowed to downgrade their operating systems to Windows XP.
Users who have bought systems with the consumer operating systems on them would have to buy an upgrade to Vista Business, which would then allow them to install XP on the machine.
That’s where things start to become tricky for SA users. Microsoft has a program called “Vista Anytime Upgrade” (VAU) that allows users to upgrade their version of Vista over the Internet. That’s possible because the Vista installation disks have the ability to install any version of the operating system, from Vista Home Basic right up to Vista Ultimate Edition.
However, Microsoft SA’s David Sieff says that service isn’t available locally as yet but it’s looking to include SA in the second round of countries that will make VAU an option to consumers.
It remains to be seen how Microsoft prices those upgrades. Currently, to buy a Vista Business Upgrade package retail costs around R1 900. A quick visit to Dell’s website shows that the cost difference between configuring a notebook with Vista Home Basic and the same notebook with Vista Business is around R800 – a massive difference of R1 100 between what the manufacturer’s charging and what a customer would pay at a retail store.
Computer resellers do have access to other ways of selling Windows Vista that aren’t available through mass market retail stores, and customers would be wise to look at those suppliers before making a trip to the local chain store.
Ben MacDonald, client brand manager at Dell SA, says that while Dell offers the full range of operating systems on most of its systems, it’s important for buyers to ensure that they know what their requirements are before committing to buy.
MacDonald adds that wherever possible, users should have a clear understanding of what their computing needs will be before buying. That may include working out some way to test important business applications on Vista before buying a machine that has the operating system installed. He adds that while Dell recommends Vista Business as the OS of choice, there’s still a fair amount of demand for machines with Windows XP installed.
MacDonald warns that even if the customer is able to downgrade to XP he needs to make sure that the machine’s drivers are available for Windows XP. That’s because, as technology moves ahead, some companies may not make some software available for Windows XP. However, that’s most likely to occur in entry-level systems, where the configuration of the system often changes.
The result is that those looking to buy a new computer for the office environment need to do their homework before shelling out cash or else they’ll at best have to spend time and money obtaining the right OS and at worst be stuck with a computer that doesn’t fulfil the needs of the user.
Finweek
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