New Release of Microsoft - Pro Vista

For the first time in five years, Microsoft Corp. is finally18 months and lots of labor by the technology staff. In
unveiling a new system for operating personalthe meantime, the last operating system, Windows XP,
computers. Now the company must persuade PCworks just fine for most companies -- especially with a
buyers that the launch really matters to them.security-enhancing patch known as Service Pack 2
Beginning Thursday, businesses that buy Windowsthat Microsoft released in 2004.
licenses in bulk have first crack at the new operatingBut many buyers want more dramatic reasons to
system, called Vista. Consumers can get Vista onchange their PCs.
home PCs beginning Jan. 30.Kamal Anand, chief technology officer for TradeStone
Microsoft and computer vendors contend that VistaSoftware Inc., a Gloucester, Mass.-based provider of
will make Windows machines more secure, powerfulsupply-chain software, examined test versions of
and graphically dynamic, especially when combinedVista and Office and found "no compelling need" to
with other products Microsoft is releasingupgrade his company's 100 PCs and laptops anytime
simultaneously. Those include new back-end serversoon. Instead, Anand expects Vista and Office to
software for businesses, as well as Office 2007,slowly permeate TradeStone as it buys new PCs for
which brings sweeping changes to widely usedemployees in coming years.
programs such as Word, Outlook, Excel and"Nobody wants to go through the extra time and
PowerPoint.effort and money to upgrade an existing, well-working
Much is at stake for Microsoft. Most of its revenuesystem," he said. The programs in Office 2007 have
and almost all of its profit comes from Windows andbeen overhauled in many ways. Generally they can
Office, funding the company's sexier ventures in videomake it easier for people to collaborate on documents
games and music players. But even with all the toutedand to manage information from multiple sources.
improvements, analysts expect Vista to only graduallyExcel in particular packs a wallop, with vastly increased
emerge, especially in big organizations where upgradingnumber-crunching abilities. The Outlook e-mail program
can be a costly, complicated affair. Gartner Dataquestperforms noticeably faster searches for tidbits buried
predicts that it will be 2010 before Vista outnumbersin messages.
the previous operating system, Windows XP, onSome Office programs also have scrapped their
business computers.familiar menu structure in favor of a "ribbon" atop the
PC makers say Vista will enable computers to doscreen that reorders how command choices are
things that previously were difficult or costly. Forpresented to the user. While that new interface
example, Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's No. 3 PCunlocks many features that were hard to find in
maker, says Vista greatly enhances data-backup toolsprevious generations of Office software, it will require
it builds into its machines.some time to get used to, which might give tech
"All those capabilities are going to be one step betterbuyers pause.
with Vista," said Clain Anderson, Lenovo's director ofAnother potential drag for Office is that the world has
software peripherals.changed considerably since the last major release in
A company with 10,000 employees, for example, likely2003. Inexpensive, open-source alternatives to Office
has 1,000 business applications, many of which need tohave gained traction. And rivals such as Google Inc.
be tested on Vista before a company can switch itsare increasingly delivering spreadsheets, word
PCs to the new operating system, said Gartnerprocessing and other tools for free over the Internet,
analyst Michael Silver. That process often takes 12 toan attractive choice for smaller companies.