It has been five years since the last upgrade to Microsoft Windows and Windows
Vista has recently been released to business users. Whether
you plan on upgrading your current PCs to this new version or simply buy
one with Windows Vista pre-installed, you will need to consider
what path you are going to take for the near future.
Here are some important items we thought you should know about this new
operating system and what it may mean to your business management installation.
First, we'll take a look at the different product levels available with Windows
Vista, and then, the suggested hardware you may need to take full advantage
of its features. Last, we'll talk about some important issues for
you to consider as you migrate.
To serve organizations of all sizes, Windows Vista is available in two editions
designed for business: Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise.
Home versions of Windows Vista will be available in early 2007 but, like
Windows XP Home edition, are not really suited for general business use.
Windows Vista Business is
designed to help keep PCs running smoothly and securely so you are less reliant
on dedicated IT support.
Windows Vista Enterprise is
the premium edition of Windows Vista, with all the features in Windows Vista
Business, plus extra capabilities that can help lower IT costs and improve
data protection.
For small businesses, Windows Vista Business includes new technology and
tools to ensure your PCs are always up-to-date, more secure, and running smoothly.
For instance, Windows Vista Business will make your PCs safer with built-in
protection against malicious software, or malware. You will be warned
of impending hardware failures long before you risk losing any important
business data. An array of sophisticated new backup
technologies helps protect your information even in the event of a catastrophic
hardware failure.
For larger organizations, Windows Vista Business has been designed from the
ground up to improve the deployment and management of the operating system.
For instance, image-based installation is now the default method for installing
the Windows Vista operating system, and the images are no longer hardware-dependent.
These two key design principles enable your organization to dramatically reduce
the number of images you are required to manage and streamline the process
of deploying new PCs and updating existing PCs.
For businesses of any size, Windows Vista Business is designed to allow your
IT department to configure users' systems so that they can log onto their PCs
as standard users instead of as administrators. Windows Vista Business enables
the use of standard user accounts without the compatibility and usability issues
that could occur in previous versions of Windows. This new capability significantly
reduces the likelihood of a malicious attack causing damage to your organization's
PCs.
The suggested retail price for Windows Vista Business
is $299 USD, with a suggested upgrade retail price of $199 USD. Windows Vista
Enterprise is only available to Microsoft Volume License customers.
Regardless of the cost of the software, part of your consideration must be
the ability of current and future hardware to properly handle the tasks required.
This has always been a difficult task in itself since the requirements
of each user can vary so widely.
Minimally, you will need:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
- 1 GB of system memory.
- Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory
(minimum),
Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel.
- 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
- DVD-ROM Drive.
- Audio output capability.
- Internet access capability.
However, we all know that requirements for someone checking email and doing
word processing is different than more hard core applications. And remember,
applications and the internet are becoming much more of a multimedia environment
so you may want to look at higher level configurations, especially when purchasing
new equipment:
- Dual Core Processor (as fast as you can afford.)
- 2 GB of system memory.
- A 300GB to 500GB serial-ATA hard disk (remember you'll be doing way
more with photos, movies and music in the coming years.)
- A re-writeable DVD drive.
- A higher level graphics card with at least 256MB of onboard
RAM (preferably 512MB.)
- If you're also springing for a new display, think
flat screen, high-definition and 20 inches or more.
To help ease the pain of upgrading, Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs
is a limited operating system that can extend the life of legacy PCs by reducing
the total cost of ownership, improving the overall security, and bridging
the gaps between hardware updates with a software solution.
Last, and probably most important, is the effect any upgrade will have
on the applications you use on a daily basis. Most software vendors, including
Sage Software, have been testing their products against the beta versions
made available by Microsoft. With released code now available, they are now
performing final testing and compatibility changes.
For this reason, we strongly recommend you verify that your applications
are compatible before moving to any new operating system.
For questions or more information on the compatibility of your Sage Software
applications contact Alan Ogilvie via phone or e-mail (604-552-4008; info@computerworks.bc.ca).
