Two for the Business
Windows Vista will ship with two business-oriented versions: Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise. "Windows Vista Business edition is optimized for small to medium-sized businesses, but it's designed to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes," says Microsoft's Burk. Vista Business will include IT management tools, end-user search tools for organizing and sorting through large quantities of business documents, and Tablet PC support.
Vista Enterprise is aimed at larger organizations and adds enhanced application compatibility tools, disk image management tools (for creating and distributing standard installations), and the ability to run Unix applications on Vista PCs. Vista Enterprise will be available only to corporate customers that are enrolled in Microsoft's Software Assurance program or a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.
Proceed with Caution
If there aren't compelling business reasons to make the switch to Vista in 2006, consider putting it off. Alternatively, you can let Vista creep into your enterprise gradually as you buy new systems that have the OS preinstalled, recommends Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group.
One reason for taking it slowly is that Vista's hardware requirements are steeper than those for Windows XP, and that means a lot of your old computers won't have enough horsepower to handle it. Although Microsoft has published its requirements list for Vista, Enderle has compiled his own list (see "Vista System Requirements", page 91). But, he acknowledges, "the ideal hardware will be designed for Windows Vista - and that won't show up until the fourth quarter of this year".
Even if you're not planning on installing Vista for a year or more, you still should pay attention to its hardware requirements. "Anyone who's buying hardware this year needs to consider getting hardware that's sufficient for Windows Vista," says Ann Westerheim, president of Ekaru, a technology service provider for small and midsize businesses. That's because the typical corporate PC has a three-year lifespan, and over the next three years, you'll almost certainly need to run Vista.
And don't underestimate the amount of work an operating system overhaul can require in a large enterprise. "Those of us who have done it will tell you it's never painless," says Jeff Reed, CTO of Logicalis, an enterprise IT service provider.
Time to Get Ready
Now is the time to start learning about Vista by studying the product details that Microsoft has published on its main site and on the Microsoft Developer Network site (see msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista). If you can get into Microsoft's beta program, you will gain firsthand experience with Vista and, even more importantly, can begin testing its compatibility with your company's key applications. Once the OS ships, you want to be prepared with an upgrade plan - and you will be upgrading, sooner or later.
"It's a question of whether you want to deal with a bunch of patches and fixes for XP when you can get everything that's already incorporated into Vista," says Gartenberg. Microsoft says it will continue to maintain Windows XP and is planning to issue Service Pack 3 for XP in the second half of 2007, but the trend is clear: Vista is coming and will eventually replace XP.
The pressure will only increase in January, when (or if) Vista hits retail shelves. "Right now, Windows XP, with all its foibles, is working OK. IT managers are not champing at the bit to rip the thing out by the roots," says Enderle. "But that could change dramatically once this thing ships."
Vista System Requirements
Windows Vista will almost certainly require that you upgrade your older systems or replace them with newer models. Here are the minimum system requirements for reasonable performance over the expected three-year life cycle of a new Vista desktop, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group:
CPU: 2GHz processor or faster
RAM: 1GB or more
Optical drive: DVD required for installation Current generation discrete graphics systems with 128MB of memory or then current generation integrated graphics and increase system memory to 2GB of fast dual-channel memory. Both need to support DirectX9 (DirectX10 is preferred) and the Windows Display Drive Model for Aero.
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