Windows Vista - one year on...

I came across this new presentations covering windows Vista post one year recently. I don't get asked to talk much on Vista, presumably you are all making you owns minds up to deploy now (or not as the case may-be!). Anyhow, whilst I am more than willing to talk to you in person on this subject I thought that I would post a blog with the key elements within it...

So, to use a good football metaphor (Soccer for those in the US!) it seems to have been 'a game of two halves' for Windows Vista since launch. As this slide points out Windows Vista has been Microsoft's fastest selling product with over 100M licenses sold (not including Volume Licensing!) in it's first year. It is also the fastest growing Volume Licensing business amongst the big established businesses within Microsoft. And, perhaps most importantly SP1 shipped!

But despite this 'rosy garden' outlook, it would be naive to state that Vista met all expectations...

Certainly amongst the press and analysts Windows Vista had a rocky start, with less that favourable comments about device drivers, application compatibility, and performance. This is nothing new though as similar comments were made upon the release of Windows 2000 and Windows XP!  On the flip side many early adopters, such as Paul Smith in the UK, managed (with the help of Microsoft's partners) to overcome these challenges and gain great business benefits during the past year.

As this slide shows there is however a clear trend of favourable opinion towards Windows Vsita. Over the course of the last year as people have started deploying and using Windows Vista the trend is significant. Where people use Vista, they like it and wouldn't go back. For IT there is a clear cost saving associated with using Windows Vista as this next slide demonstrates using our IO model as a baseline for comparison.

Back to the agenda of looking at Vista's 12 month journey and we find significant progress in all areas when compared to RTM. This speaks volumes to the commitment and effort that goes into Windows engineering the the benefits earned by having the client and server (Windows Server 2008) now on the same code base.

Whether it's benefits that users enjoy through greater productivity, less need for support, or, for example, must simplified mobile working, or the cost savings and infrastructure benefits to IT - Windows Vista has delivered value to those who have chosen to deploy it during it's first year.

and as this slide emphasises mainstream adoption of Vista is now upon us. Are you one of the customer who still isn't sure of the benefits of Windows Vista? Contact me and we can have a chat or I can point you towards suitable assistance.

So, one year on is Windows Vista delivering for you? You tell me...