Vista, as I See It
So much conversation and controversy has surrounded Microsoft Windows Vista over the last year. To Microsoft, it’s probably strategy to keep Vista in the press while they scramble to finish the thing. Most recently the topic has been the Windows Vista prices that were leaked, and now available on Amazon. I have been keeping a close eye on Vista since the Longhorn days because I am both a consumer and developer for Windows, so it affects me more than I would like it to. So here is a break down
32 Flavors
So maybe Microsoft hasn’t totally become the next Baskin-Robins, but their closer than Apple and OSX. Windows Vista has five main versions of Windows Vista, which to the tech-savvy may not be a big deal. However, my Mom is not going to know what version of Vista she needs, wants, or should purchase; and there is a good chance that the sales person at Best Buy will want to put her in the “Lexus” of Vista because it will boost his sales for the month. Here are the Vista flavors from Microsoft:
Windows Vista Business
Regardless of the size of your organization, Windows Vista Business will help you lower your PC management costs, improve your security, enhance your productivity, and help you stay better connected.Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Enterprise is designed to meet the needs of large global organizations with highly complex IT infrastructures. Windows Vista Enterprise can help you lower your IT costs while providing additional layers of protection for your sensitive data.Windows Vista Home Premium
Whether you choose to use your PC to write e-mail and surf the Internet, for home entertainment, or to track your household expenses, Windows Vista Home Premium delivers a more complete and satisfying computing experience.Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Basic is designed to deliver improved reliability, security, and usability to home PC users who just want to do the basics with their PCs.Windows Vista Ultimate
If you want all of the best business features, all of the best mobility features, and all of the best home entertainment features that Windows Vista has to offer, Windows Vista Ultimate is the solution for you. With Windows Vista Ultimate you don’t have to compromise.
This makes it difficult for the average user to determine what version they should upgrade to, if and when they want to. Yes, Microsoft has a nice little Vista Readiness test, but it has a major flaw: it asks the user what they want out of Vista. Why is this a flaw? Well let’s say you were shopping for a new car, and you were asked what options you wanted with your new car, like: alloyed wheels, moon roof, leather seats.. chances are you are going to say ‘Yes’ to more features than you really need, just because they sound good. A user is going to want the most out of their operating system, even if they do not use the features. In the case of Vista, the prices vary and put users in a position where they need to figure out what versions have what features that they will need, and what versions they are able to afford. Something that will most likely frustrate customers, which I do not believe is the customer experience that Microsoft is expecting from Vista.
The Upgrade Path
So if the different versions of Vista wasn’t enough to make you go back to DOS, the upgrade path will. When you upgrade to a new Operating System it is always best to do a backup, and clean format and install. However for most users, this is asking too much. So you think… “Well I am running Windows XP Professional, I will just upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium (which is the equivalent for Windows XP Professional). Well you are wrong, because to Microsoft you are going from Professional to Home which is a downgrade, and you will need to format. As if that wasn’t enough alone, if you purchase the Vista Update Install, you will need your Windows XP CD. Some manufactures do not ship OS CD’s when you purchase a CPU from them, they will split your hard drive partition up and install the OS and restoration files on a small part of your hard drive. Another step, making the upgrade process harder than it needs to be.
The Overhaul
So Microsoft decided to rewrite the TCP/IP stack in Windows Vista. For most consumers, this means nothing to you. However for developers and those tech-savvy there will be some things that will affect you in the long run. Microsoft is usually “good” about making things backwards compatible, so I am not too worried; however from a development standpoint there might be some issues when developing for Vista, XP, 2000, etc.
The Prices
Long last the price point. I think Chris Pirillo says it best with his posting, but I will chime in. Yes most users will not need Vista Ultimate, in fact I am not sure of anyone that will. So set aside the $399 version for Ultimate, the prices are still very high for an Operating System that is late, doesn’t really bring much new to the average consumer, and most customers can get for $199 from Apple. For most of us it’s a business expense, but the prices concerns me more from the consumer stand point. I think it’s a lot to ask from customers to upgrade at this price, for features that they probably will not use, when XP works fine right now for most, and new security flaws are being found faster than they are being fixed. Which brings me to my final point: Remember to add $49.95 (probably will go up) on top of whatever Vista price you pay for. This will be for Microsoft’s OneCare program. It’s Microsoft’s way of making you pay for security and updates that should be included in the over-priced Operating System you paid for.
In Closing
Will I be upgrading? Yes, most likely within the next year I will convert my main machine over to Vista, but we will see. When the upgrade comes I will have several friends and family machines that I will need to upgrade as well, since every nerd has become the “Geek on Call” for someone or another. One also must keep in mind that we are still five months away from the current release date, so any or all of this information could change. I am more just shocked with the way Microsoft is handling Vista, it really seems like they are scrambling to make release dates, and OEM and customers happy. Non-the-less the release will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
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Agreed on the 32 flavours. Microsoft is doing this for all of their products…how many editions of SQL Server are there? Seven (x3 platforms and xN where N == #localizations)? How many editions of Visual studio are there? Five, six…I can’t even remember and it takes too long to check.
All I know is that there’s more than is needed…in other words, there’s more than one.