Does Vista Live Up to the Hype?

May 15, 2006

Vista (noun)
1: An extensive mental view (such as over a series of events or a stretch of time)
2: Microsoft’s still unreleased Operating System

What’s up with the new Vista Operating System?

Microsoft’s recent announcement of yet another delay in its highly anticipated flagship product has left many people wondering. Going forward, will it stay on track and meet expectations or are even bigger hiccups on the way?

To shed light on this, during April we surveyed 62 ChangeWave Alliance members whose companies are currently beta testing Vista, along with 176 others whose companies plan on testing.

The first thing we asked respondents was when they thought Vista would actually ship? Nearly three-quarters believe Microsoft won’t ship Vista to corporate customers until first quarter 2007 – or later. Only 18% believe the actual shipping will occur “on time” (i.e., by fourth quarter 2006).

Question Asked: Microsoft estimates that its Vista Operating System will ship to corporate customers in November 2006. When do you believe Vista will actually ship to corporate customers?

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We then focused on likes, and found that respondents whose companies are beta testing Vista especially liked its new user interface, its improved security features, and its interoperability with other programs.

Question Asked: Based on your experience, please name something you especially like about Microsoft Vista:

Alliance respondent AUG43393, who is currently beta testing Vista, finds it has a "beautiful interface…" and provides a "…very logical layout." POW18477 concurs, adding that "the graphical user interface (GUI) is very pleasant."

In terms of added security features, ALJ92593 thinks the "security and operational management are greatly improved." JBS26317 especially likes Vista's Apple-like ability to prompt administrators for "…additional credentials to run system commands…" from a user account. This appears to be an improvement over Microsoft's current XP operating system.

Along with strong points, we also focused on the downside and found most respondents disliked Vista’s large-size – which makes it slow to run without the most up-to-date equipment. Another major sticking point – significant hardware requirements that result in pricy upgrades. Here’s how the negatives shake out:

Question Asked: Based on your experience, please name something you especially dislike about Microsoft Vista: (n=51)

Respondent MMI82808 puts it plainly, finding Vista "slow on anything but the best hardware." ESL0927 is especially turned off by the extra graphics Microsoft has added to "enhance" the user experience - which at the same time exhausts resources. He describes it as "wasting processing power on eye-candy..."

According to BEN24054, the added hardware requirements “...means few existing computers are candidates for an upgrade until they are replaced.” MAJ8457 adds that Vista "is way over the top in needs – and is still not user friendly like an Apple.”

As AL8247 puts it: "50+ million lines of code will have several security holes in it - a marketer's dream; an engineer's nightmare."

PC Replacement. What impact will Vista have on the PC replacement cycle? The consensus estimate among respondents is that one-in-three of their corporate PCs will need to be replaced at the time their company upgrades to Vista.

Question Asked: What percentage of the computers your company currently owns will have to be replaced when you upgrade to Vista?

Importantly, respondents in companies that have hands-on experience with Vista believe more of their PCs will have to be replaced than do respondents who do not yet have hands-on experience.

Another issue for users is the new configurations their PCs will have to adopt in order to run the Vista Operating System.

Respondents cited several key differences in how their company's computers will have to be set up – most notably the need for More Memory/RAM and Better Processors. Respondents also mentioned changes in Security Management, Upgraded Video/Graphic Cards and a Steep Product Learning Curve.

As respondent SCO3635 puts it, many of his company’s computers “...have slower processors and less memory than required for Vista.” Alliance member ESL0927 adds that “even simple office workstations will need more memory than with Windows XP.”

Bottom Line: Until the final version of Windows Vista is released, we won't fully know the impact it will have on the marketplace. But until then, our survey results provide a great deal of insight from actual beta testers on what we can expect from the folks in Redmond, WA.

So until the actual rollout, hasta-la-Vista!

This article was contributed by the ChangeWave Alliance. The Alliance is a network of 7,500 highly qualified business, technology, and medical professionals in leading companies of select industries—credentialed experts who spend their everyday lives working on the frontline of technological change. ChangeWave surveys its Alliance members on a range of business and investment research and intelligence topics, collects feedback from them electronically, and converts the information into proprietary quantitative and qualitative reports.