Save Millions on IT: Delay Vista Upgrade

Come on IT people, this is a no-brainer. Don't upgrade to Vista, yet if ever. At least wait until Service Pack 1 has been released and tested (which I predict will be late 2007, early 2008). Here's five ways you save:

1. Fewer install hassles--let others learn the hard way and smooth it out for you.
2. Lower software costs--avoid premiums [and headaches] on new versions.
3. Reduced learning curve--if your users get Vista on their home PCs in the first half of 2007 they'll be training themselves.
4. Reduced learning costs--as Vista training becomes commoditized.
5. Hardware savings--the Vista delay (>2 years) has created a huge hardware surplus.
6. Cut analyst bills--don't pay a dime to anyone who told you Vista was on track and early adoption was a good thing.

Twenty years of solid historical data show that the first version of Microsoft anything is:

• shipped far too late but much too soon,
• more trouble than it's worth,
• often followed by successive versions which actually deliver on the original promises.

Remember, ad campaigns to the contrary, Microsoft doesn't care about anyone's business but its own. Otherwise it would not have acted in a way that is likely to cut $4 billion from PC sales this year. (Of course, I would also argue that any PC execs who believed Microsoft on delivery dates should be canned, sans parachute.)

About the only redeeming qualities Microsoft can rightfully claim right now is the relative stability of XP and the massive philanthropy of its founder.

Stephen