Vista's Upgrade Challenge

IanFogg | February 19, 2007, 05:01 PM

Vista is the future of the PC, despite what its many detractors may wish and so put to one side. Vista matters, maybe now, maybe soon, but it is where the PC is going, eventually. Over the weekend I installed the release version of Windows Vista Ultimate on my home PC. Declaration - I paid for both Vista and for the PC myself.

The Vista interface is a marked improvement on previous versions of Windows. It's not just attractive, although it is, but it's more functional. Many of the little changes that appear as eye candy also do help usability... when copying/moving files, or finding the right window, etc. I'm reserving judgement on the infamous security pop-ups; my initial impression is that they bear a passing resemblance to the worst of Internet advertising and may suffer the same fate.

The real issue is what will determine how quickly consumers switch to Vista. I believe central to this is Vista's software support to ease migration.

On the first day that a consumer upgrades -- whether to a new PC with Vista pre-installed or by upgrading an existing machine -- Vista needs to support everything that that consumer does digitally. Otherwise that consumer will be disappointed. And, that digital life has increased dramatically since 2001's Windows XP launch.

Increasingly consumers own more computers, including laptops, digital cameras, games consoles with WiFi and connect them all together with home networks and/or to the PC.

The more devices a consumer owns, or the more digital media they create, or the more they consume, then the more painful it will be to switch to a new OS or to a new PC. When Windows XP launched one of its unsung innovations was the files transfer wizard. Vista desperately needs more tools to make the upgrade process easy for consumers, and the pre-install upgrade advisor tool needs to be strengthened.

So far, everything I have thrown at Vista has worked, bar a minor sound issue. However, as I do have a lot of digital devices, like increasing numbers of consumers (see the reports linked to above) I've not had time to install them all yet. The upgrade process is time consuming even though everything has worked as it should and installing Windows Vista has been easier than any previous version of Windows that I've tried.

More later on the various Vista improvements, and what new possibilities they offer businesses developing new consumer products or Internet services. Vista will make 2007 an interesting year.