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Vista: Many universities say "no thanks"
Joe Dysart
Part 4 of a series
More often than Microsoft would prefer, universities are simply refusing to upgrade to its new Vista operating system, fearing the switch offers little more than a headache.
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Joe Dysart
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Margaret McFee, a senior systems administrator for Harvard University’s Physics Computer Services, typifies university IT administrators who are saying ‘thanks, but no thanks.’
”Our bottom line is, 'Do we need this? Is this worth the effort?'” McFee says. “The answer continues to be 'No' each time we re-visit it.”
Such anti-Vista backlash is also in full swing at Princeton, where its Desktop Systems Council has posted a notice on the university website urging its computing community to hold off upgrading to Vista until 2008. Oregon State, Miami University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others, have published similar ‘wait-and-see’ cautions online.
Like many businesses, these and other institutions have given Vista’s initial release a test drive, and have discovered that much of their hardware – as well as many of their software apps – simply don’t work with Vista.
McFee, like many others, also complains that the PCs in her fleet run slower using Vista, and that the university would need to buy new PCs and other new hardware if users were to reap all the benefits Vista promises.
As for Vista’s claims of better security: McFee balks. HPCS has spent a number of years developing its own, in-house solution to security vulnerabilities. It’s in no mood to hand over ultimate responsibility for system security to Microsoft.
”Considering that our current crop of XP machines are performing just fine, have none of the compatibility issues seen with some of our critical apps, and none of the additions in Vista are really compelling enough or improve performance enough – and may, indeed, decrease it if we do not upgrade some of our hardware, again, with no compelling reason for doing so – we're still in a holding pattern on Vista,” McFee says. “That's likely to remain until we find that either there is some gain that makes it worthwhile, or Microsoft forces us to switch.”
Worldwide, IT administrators like McFee have apparently left Vista gasping. "The release of Microsoft Windows Vista operating system at the end of January has, so far, failed to stimulate the market in the way many hoped,” says George Shiffler, a research director at Gartner, which released a report in late June confirming stiff market resistance to Vista. “Our market data suggest Vista has had very limited impact on PC demand or replacement activity.”
The question is, how long will this game of chicken continue? Microsoft needs to move Vista in big numbers or it will become a very different company. Simultaneously, universities can only stand by so long as they watch the sun set on XP. One thing is certain: before this thing is settled, there’ll be a lot more squawking.
To read Part 1 of the series, click here.
To read Part 2 of the series, click here.
To read Part 3 of the series, click here.
Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Thousand Oaks, California. Reach him by e-mail at joe@joedysart.com
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