please don’t think of your programme as a Vista upgrade. Instead:

1. Model your workforce in terms of their workstyles
2. review the appropriate solution for each workstyle, looking at the many highly differentiated options for desktop and application delivery including consumerized/Linux solutions for some user segments
3. rationalise down to a few desktop/OS and application delivery technologies (not one per workstyle) to keep control of cost and complexity and increase flexibility
4. try and leverage the change programme to achieve some significant business improvement, cultural change and productivity improvements
5. Architect your solution to loosen the coupling of the desktop operating system to the applications, to make future change easier.

Adventures in home working » When to Vista

This would raise some interesting discussion, and exciting opportunities for innovation in the enterprise desktop space. I particularly like the fact it allows for some degree of flexibility and choice.

Modelling the workforce would uncover some fascinating information, particularly if it was done in a collaborative way, inviting contributions. It would be important to think about where we want to be, rather than where are we now with our current technological and (potentially) cultural limitations.

Whilst for many Vista will be an automatic choice, I think it is a sign of both the issues Microsoft is facing with its flagship OS, and the relative strength and maturity of the Linux offerings, that we can even entertain the thought of having this conversation.

Good food for thought, thanks Steve!

Tags: windows, vista, operatingsystems, choice, linux

François Bancilhon writes an open letter to Steve Ballmer regarding the news that Mandriva Linux will be replaced by Windows XP on the 17,000 Classmate PCs for Nigerian schools.

We actually closed the deal, we took the order, we qualified the software, we got the machine shipped. To conclude, we did our job. And, the machine are being delivered right now.

Now, we hear a different story from the customer : “we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward.”

This raises so many questions, both business and ethics. How much pressure and money did MS throw at this?

We will probably never know the truth, and it is likely not going to swing back Mandriva’s way. Unfortunately. Such a shame that so many children will have there first computing experiences tarnished by politics and an out-of-date OS running on low powered hardware.

It is the apparent lack of ethics and arrogance that Microsoft seem to be showing that really gets my goat.

Plenty more commentary out there including this and this.

Hilarious!

Via Simon Barratt

Mr Gates said sales had been quicker than Microsoft expected, and made Vista the firm’s quickest selling software.

What!? Does anyone believe this stuff? What upset me about the article from the beeb was the lack of comment or verification of Gates’ statement. There is plenty on this out there, so you can do your own searches on google, but with Vista sales being reported as slow, Dell offering linux and bringing back Windows XP, how can it be Microsoft’s quickest selling software?

Oh, and to say sales were quicker than they had expected, that just makes me wonder just how low their expectations really were!

Just where are MS going? They are appearing increasingly deperate and looking to create confusion. Smells like fear to me.

My take on all this, forget Vista and move to Ubuntu.

Why can’t you run Mac OS on a Windows PC from within a VMware or Parallels virtual PC? Why does the Windows Vista EULA only allow the virtualization of Vista Ultimate and Business? It’s all to do with both companies wanting to control virtualization in order to protect profits.

Source: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, zdnet (thanks Dale).

Its interesting to watch where this is going now Apple have moved to Intel.

To me this appears as if there is an enterprise demand for OSX that Apple are almost reluctant to recognise. I wonder if Jobs has even entertained the idea of a cost-benefit analysis?