Florida State University

User Services Recommendation on Upgrades to
Microsoft Vista Operating System

by
David Gaitros and Alex Cruz

Introduction

Organizations within Florida State University may want to be cautious about upgrading their office PCs to Microsoft Vista at the first available opportunity. Your IT managers should carefully weigh the pros and cons of the technical upgrade before committing to the transition. Here are a few issues that should be considered.

Have a reason to upgrade:

Windows Vista provides several new features including a tighter security module. Prospective users should carefully weight the time and effort involved in the upgrade, migration, and training that would be needed in transitioning to Windows Vista versus improvements in capability and productivity. Eventually, all offices will need to upgrade to the new Operating System (OS) but you may want to wait when doing so would be less disruptive.

Windows XP will be around for a while:

Windows XP is still a viable OS. With the release of several service packs and fixes, most offices are running quite efficiently with XP. An upgrade to Windows Vista will cause some degree of disruption even if the transition goes without any problems (and they never do). Look at the list of new features and determine the priority of your needs for the new OS.

Hardware Considerations:

Microsoft Windows Vista is both considerably larger and more complex then any previous version. This office is currently in the process establishing an environment for performing our own bench mark tests to determine the minimum and recommended system specifications for running the new operating system. Early indications are that any computer with less then 1 GB of internal memory and less then 1 GHz speed may have problems. Certainly, machines older then 2 years old may not be good candidates for the new OS. Make sure the machines you want to put the new OS on can handle the increase computational requirements.

Multiple Operating Systems:

Let’s assume you do want to upgrade to Windows Vista as soon as possible. Unless you’re a brand new organization with new PCs there will be some machines that do not have enough speed, memory, or disk space needed for the new OS. This means that some of your machines will have Windows Vista and some will have Windows XP. Can your IT managers handle the more complex environment with multiple versions of the Operating System? Are your IT managers and users properly trained?

Infrastructure Support:

Microsoft Vista was released to business and enterprise users on Thursday, November 30th, 2006. At the writing of this article, most IT managers are still looking at beta versions of the OS and have little or no experience managing desktops with the new environment. Offices that transition to Microsoft Vista immediately will find that customer support for the product is lacking in the early stages. User Services is setting up a model Microsoft Vista Office Environment to (1) gain experience in the new product and (2) to give IT managers the chance to gain experience with Vista in a relaxed and controlled environment. Likewise, system administrators will also need to gain experience in connecting the new OS to the FSU network. Is your IT staff fully trained and knowledgeable in managing Windows Vista?

Other Product Upgrades:

As of the writing of this article, many third party software vendors may not have released versions of their products that can be used with Microsoft Vista. For instance your anti-virus software may not work in the new environment. Additionally, some of the other applications that act as clients to web based services may require specific plug-ins before they work. Before you upgrade, you want to make sure that all of the software you need can function with the new OS.

User Training and Education:

Depending upon the size of your environment, deployment, testing, and training could take several months from start to finish. Don’t forget that many users will require some indoctrination to introduce them to the new user interface. Vista has a new look and feel and training costs as well as lost productivity will be an issue in the decision to upgrade. Is there a training or seminar program available in Microsoft Vista and Office products for your staff?