Steve Richards has some great thoughts on what to think about when considering an upgrade to Vista:
please don’t think of your programme as a Vista upgrade. Instead:
- Model your workforce in terms of their workstyles
- 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
- 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
- try and leverage the change programme to achieve some significant business improvement, cultural change and productivity improvements
- 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
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