Five questions to ask before moving to Vista

Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system has been around since November of last year and many businesses are still to decide when they will make the change. So if Vista is something you've got on your mind right now, here are five questions you should ask yourself before taking the plunge.

1. Does your business need Vista yet?
Some organisations are happy using the systems they have now. They'll use XP or 2000 until it is becomes completely necessary to upgrade.

David Bradshaw, analyst at Ovum, suggests that some companies will want to have the latest technology that Vista offers - such as the improved security tools and nifty new interface - or because it is a business-critical requirement. These companies may therefore be willing to forge ahead with Vista migration in the name of progress.

The size of business is also an issue - larger companies face a huge and complicated task where it comes to migrating their entire infrastructure onto a new operating system. A business-wide plan will need to be drawn up to make the upgrade as painless possible and a lot more preparation will need to be done in general.

In contrast, for smaller businesses it will be less of a challenge to install Vista due to the smaller scale of the task. This kind of company may also be more willing to upgrade on a PC-by-PC basis rather than via the wholesale change larger firms will favour.

2. When would be best to migrate?
A report on Vista preparation from Forrester suggests many IT departments have been holding off on Vista migration so it coincides with a full PC refresh programme. Other companies may have upgraded to XP relatively recently and will not be keen to go through the upheaval again.

And - as Annette Jump, analyst at Gartner points out - this is where the issue of Microsoft support comes in. Security updates from Microsoft on Windows 2000 end in 2010 while XP will soldier on until 2014. Companies that haven't upgraded to Vista could put themselves at risk if they continue with the older operating systems beyond these dates.

Microsoft's maintenance service, Software Assurance, which companies pay for to secure software upgrades, could also be an issue according to David Bradshaw. If a company's cover is about to expire it may elect to upgrade to Vista through Software Assurance while it still can, rather than wait and pay for it later.

3. Will your applications still work?
If you have legacy or bespoke applications that are business-critical, you'll need to make sure bringing in Vista won't suddenly stop them from working.

If your applications aren’t compatible or supported with Vista then take your time to work out how this can be changed.

4. What about your hardware?
Software isn't the only thing that might not take to Vista. Vista has relatively high requirements for running hardware and so a basic, rare or elderly piece of kit may not click with the OS.

Microsoft reckons 98 per cent of all device drivers are now supported on Vista but if your business has bespoke or legacy hardware that is business-critical, it is worth checking whether moving it onto Vista could cause issues.

5. How are you going to migrate?
There are two choices here. The first is to go with a 'Big Bang' approach, which means a wholesale upgrade of computer operating systems across the company. Annette Jump points out this approach can be a very painful one while it can be potentially risky too, if things go wrong.

The other approach is by attrition where PCs that are past their sell-by date are replaced with Vista-enabled machines. In this way, replacing the hardware will be staged and more manageable.

This approach also means any issues with compatibility that emerge can be corrected without any significant consequences. If the whole computer estate is upgraded and a problem occurs, it could be a much bigger headache to sort out.

Having said that, as Forrester points out, IT departments often prefer the business to use a single operating system - as it makes support and maintenance much easier - and so will be keen for a wholesale Vista upgrade.