Hurray for Windows Vista

In 2009, your business or organization needs to be ready to upgrade from Windows 2000 and Windows XP to Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008.

The tech industry is finally pushing Windows XP out.

For the past 18 – 24 months, most computer companies sold Windows XP “downgrades” as replacements for Windows Vista. Admittedly, when Windows Vista first showed up in 2006 it was not ready for prime time. But by mid-2007 and with Service Pack 1, Vista’s major problems were solved.

However, much of the hardware being sold in 2006 – 07 was not able to run Vista reasonably well. The label “Vista Capable” on a new PC was a sign to intelligent computer people that the machine met the bare minimum to run the new operating system. In fact, there is an ongoing lawsuit over the Intel label of “Vista Capable”.

But in mid 2007, mainstream computers started to come with Core 2 Duo processors, which with 2 GB of RAM, was easily able to run Vista. Many software vendors had also updated their software to run well in Vista by this time. Still, hardware manufacturers continued to sell Windows XP downgrades. These downgrades were primarily for business purchases, with home consumers getting Vista through the big box retailers.

But the situation is changing. In June of 2008, Dell started charging customers an extra $20 to $50 for selecting the option to downgrade from Vista to Windows XP. As recently as October 2008, Dell was charging $100 for the XP downgrade and now in December 2008, Dell charges $150 for a machine with Windows XP.

The time for Windows XP is now past as an operating system on a new computer and most hardware vendors know this to be true. The XP CD and licensing inventory will dwindle quickly now as we enter 2009 and mainstream support of Windows XP from Microsoft ends in April 2009. Only free security fixes will continue until 2014.

So business users need to have their IT consultants start assessing their hardware and software to map out a path to Windows Vista and Windows 7 as their future client operating systems. Those with Windows Server 2000 are in an especially time sensitive situation too. These servers need to be upgraded to Windows Server 2008. Both Windows Vista and Server 2008 will be getting Service Pack 2 in April 2009, so upgrading in early 2009 is smart advice for businesses using older operating systems.

ArrowQuick is recommending Hewlett Packard PCs sporting 2 GB of RAM and Intel Core 2 Duo processors with Vista Business Edition for a basic machine in 2009. Power users should consider Vista 64 bit edition and 4 GB of RAM and newer Intel Quad Core processors. For people who love the AMD processor families, Hewlett Packard has series like the 4550 workstation with AMD Opteron CPUs.

Give ArrowQuick’s IT specialists a call today at 641-673-4109 and let us help you find a solution for your business.

Read More

• Deciding which HP PC is best for you?
• Installing Vista 64-bit on a MacBook
• Hyper-V Experiences – Part I
• ReadyBoost — A Helping Hand to Vista PCs?
• Intel Core i7 Processors

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Join the Discussion

1. 

   Great article, Perry. It’s positive, informative, and to the point.

   #1 posted by Kevin Klucas on February 7, 2009 at 2:34 pm.

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