Vista: Disruptive for Business
February 28, 2008
Architel, our IT outsourcing company, generates a significant amount of data related to the thousands of users the company supports. Specifically, we can watch trends related to downtime on a macro level. Over the past two years Blackberrys and other hand held devices accounted for the largest increase in non-productive time for employees. We are starting to see a much more significant time-suck in the SMB market: users who switch to Vista without the consent of their company or IT department.
Typically, more senior employees will stop by a big box retailer and purchase a new laptop with Vista pre-installed. Based on the early data we are seeing that the average employee with a non-approved Vista install spends an average of eight hours per week working with our staff to keep their system running. The data is horrific. The AVERAGE is 34 hours per month resulting in an employer cost of more than $1,200 per employee who installs Vista. Talk about expensive! Earlier this week one of our clients asked why Architel was so behind the curve, i.e. why does Architel have such a hard time supporting Vista. It was a valid question, surely everyone else is having a ball with the new operating system ~ don’t bet on it…
Yesterday Todd Bishop reprinted internal Microsoft emails related to Vista performance that were shocking even to me. A federal judge unsealed the critical emails yesterday that, “reveal extensive hand-wringing, at the highest levels of the company, over Windows Vista’s hardware and software compatibility problems after the operating system was launched.” Todd explains,
For example, one February 2007 exchange (PDF, 17 pages) started with an e-mail to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer from board member Jon Shirley, who explained that he upgraded one of his computers to Windows Vista only to find it was experiencing compatibility problems with two of Microsoft’s own MSN applications. Shirley wasn’t upgrading his other computer because of a lack of hardware drivers. As many early Windows Vista users know, Shirley wasn’t the only one experiencing those kinds of problems, especially in the initial months after release.
In addition to some of the previously reported excerpts — including executive Mike Nash’s complaint that compatibility problems turned his $2,100 PC into nothing more than an “email machine” — that thread led to a revealing message from Steven Sinofsky, then the newly installed Windows chief. In the message, Sinofsky offered his take on what went wrong with Windows Vista’s launch, and how the company should change its approach in the future.
This is particularly notable given Sinofsky’s public silence during the past year. It will no doubt be closely examined by people looking for clues about Microsoft’s strategy with Windows 7, the code name for Windows Vista’s successor.
My advice? Give XP another couple of years if you can, especially for your office computers. Most startups can’t afford the downtime, for that matter most BUSINESSES can’t afford the productivity loss. Check out the full argument against Vista: Why Vista is a Bad Idea for your Business.
