Microsoft Vista is slow to take off

BUSINESSES do not appear to be rushing to adopt Microsoft's new super soaraway operating system, Vista, shock.

According to IT Canada, the problems are not with Vista, which is apparently not too bad, but the shed loads of "peripheral problems" that Vole seems unable to deal with in a way that will satisfy businesses.

One problem is patching. Vole is now issuing security patches for Vista, but performance related updates are not being issued. Vole is waiting for the issue of the consumer editions of Vista before it issues any patches.

But businesses are apparently telling Redmond that they will not run Vista until it has the same level of patching that they get from XP.

Other problems for the Vole are that Vista has not managed to get adequate software compatibility yet particularly in the virtual private network and anti-virus software area. Among the bigger software names that still are not working on Vista are Lotus Notes, Cisco and Check Point's VPN clients, Intuit QuickBooks 2006 and anti-virus software from Trend Micro. [Any problems with Word^s^^^tar? Ed.]

Most of this software will not be ready until the middle of the year, which will slow down any significant roll outs for businesses. Ironically, even Vole is not ready for Vista. Its SQL Server 2005 won't be available for Vista until after January. Most analysts think that Vista will not start to be seen in businesses until 2008, which is a pretty long time in software terms.

More here. µ