Picking your brain on Windows Vista

By Brian Boyko, Editor, Network Performance Daily
Windows Vista has just come out for consumers but businesses have had access to Vista for two months now. And we’re wondering if it’s making an impact in IT environments.
Sure, there are under the hood improvements like the reworked TCP/IP stack (which we’ve covered, twice.) There’s also the much vaunted increased security.
But I’m not so sure if Vista is making as much of an impact in IT as Microsoft would like – partially because I’m testing out the consumer version of Vista right now as part of a freelance article I’m writing for a product review Web site. So far, I’ve personally seen improvements, but major changes to workflow, and some odd, odd errors, like having trouble with certain applications and hardware.
If I can’t get drivers for my HP LaserJet 1020, I shudder to think what would happen if you rolled out Vista on a network only to find it’s incompatible with an important piece of hardware. Additionally, the extra toll it takes on system resources has been noticeable and on my computer, which was built less than a year ago, Vista can be sluggish at times.
So we wanted to hear from people in business – especially the IT managers, network managers and infrastructure managers – and we wanted you to tell us your stories.
If you’ve rolled out Vista – tell us of your experiences. If you’ve chosen not to roll out Vista, tell us your concerns. If you’re still undecided, tell us what water cooler talk has been like around the office about the OS.
We hope to hear from you and we plan to investigate any questions you have. If you work at Microsoft, I’d like to get in touch with you so that we can answer those questions – feel free to give me an e-mail at brian.boyko@netqos.com.