Windows Vista: Businesses and Consumers Weigh Several Factors before Upgrading

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RISMEDIA, Jan. 24, 2007-(MCT)-The newest Windows operating system, Windows Vista, will be available to the general public next week, along with Office 2007. Microsoft employees are saying it's an exciting time for the company, businesses are deciding whether they should upgrade, and people like my mom are asking "What's a Vista?"

I recently got to take it for a test drive, or should I say test fly-the Vista interface, called Aero, gives windows an airy feeling. Open window screens are transparent, and there's an option to flip through all windows floating together in a 3D environment. Or you can preview minimized windows by hovering over the tabs at the bottom task bar.

As you would expect with a new operating system, the design is sleek, modern, space-age and, dare I say, has that hip Mac look to it.

What was once the Start Menu is now the Pearl. The menu will no longer expand when your mouse hovers over categories with options, but now it acts more like a long, thin Explorer window, changing as you click.

Although the bells and whistles on the visual side are entertaining, Microsoft says the biggest improvement was to the system fundamentals: security and performance.

"From a security standpoint, this is by far the most secure environment that Microsoft or any other organization ever produced from an operating system standpoint," said Craig Kampel, general manager of Microsoft's Gulf States Area, which includes Florida.

This is an important selling point for businesses, especially those with mobile employees. Vista's BitLocker Drive Encryption prevents data from being stolen off a hard drive.

Kampel said some companies are so paranoid about security, they will put Super Glue in USB ports to prevent someone stealing data using a removable storage device. Instead of mucking up USB ports, Vista can be set up to not allow new hardware to be installed — like a thumb drive.

Vista also has a Presentation Mode, or what I like to call Embarrassment Protection Mode, where no instant messages or e-mail notifications pop up, the screensaver won't turn on, and you can set it to show a more work-appropriate desktop background.

"We worked on making Vista more beneficial for a mobile user," said Shara Szott, Microsoft Information Worker Solution Specialist for the area.

Szott walked me through Vista and Office 2007 at Microsoft's Fort Lauderdale office. Some highlights from Office 2007 include the "Ribbon" in programs like Word and Excel, replacing the drop down File menu. Instead of searching for an option between drop down menus and adding toolbars, all formating choices are presented through a ribbon of tabs. Also, Excel 2007 offers new ways to analyze data trends using color coding.

And to make Office documents extra secure, you can save them as read only and unprintable or even have them self-destruct at a future date (well, they don't actually destruct, they just can't be opened).

Wether or not you decide to upgrade, research firm IDC says Vista will mean big bucks for Florida. IDC's study predicts that within the first year of Vista's release, more than $4 billion in Vista-related products and services will be sold in Florida. It'll be an exceptional boost to the more than 12,000 Florida IT companies that will do Vista-related services. The study says for each dollar Microsoft gets from Vista, it will generate more than $21 in revenue for the ecosystem beyond Microsoft.

So is Vista right for you or for your business? Go to Microsoft's Web site to download a utility to find out whether your machine can handle Vista. Vista will run in a toned-down mode for computers that can't handle the graphic goodies of the Aero interface.

If you primarily use the computer to update your MySpace page and play Blasterball, then backing up all your files and upgrading will be more of a headache than it's worth.

For those that use their PC for business and pleasure, it might be worth upgrading considering the features Vista and Office offer that target mobile employees. But consult your company's IT department before upgrading to make sure any work-specific programs will be compatible.

On the corporate side, if your business can afford an upgrade, the improved security and search features in both Office 2007 and Vista seem like it could be well worth the investment.

Copyright © 2007, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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