Vista and Office 2007 Ready for Prime Time?
Vista and Office 2007 Ready for Prime Time?
February 1st, 2007: On Tuesday Sydney was at the head of the global launch of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, the biggest product release from Microsoft in more than a decade. But will Vista be welcomed with open arms?
Taking place at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Vista and Office 2007 launched with a promise to “transform the way people use personal computers” and make personal computing easier, safer, better connected and more entertaining according to Microsoft.
With upwards of 90 percent of the worlds PC’s running windows, the upgrade debate seems to be a case of when rather than why, however, that said Microsoft is likely to face an uphill battle to convince those who do not receive a bundled copy of Vista with a new computer to smack down their hard-earned for its new baby.
Especially considering pricing for the new OS ranges from $179 for an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista Home Premium Academic edition, $565 for Business and $751 for Vista Ultimate edition.
While announcing local music, movie and photographic deals with Sanity, Telstra BigPond and Kodak respectively, small to medium businesses will be more interested in productivity enhancements. Along with increased security measures and other features far too numerous to list here, Vista includes a new “gadget” system that could intrigue SMBs. Gadgets are additions to the desktop that can be programmed to display dynamic information such as weather reports, function as calculators, sticky notes and more.
Both MYOB and Quicken have developed gadgets to work on Windows Vista, with Quicken Australia promoting a sidebar gadget to display Quicken Alerts, while MYOB has created a prototype sidebar gadget that gives business owners an up-to-date figure on their bank balance. Both Quicken and MYOB have announced that their software is now Vista compatible.
Microsoft says that more than 30 other Australian independent software vendors such as Brookstone Technologies, Dataract, Anthem, Macroview, Eagle datamation International, IBA Health and JustOnePlace have also developed new applications to integrate with Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system.
“Windows Vista represents the next step for the personal computer, builds on the success of Microsoft .NET and offers developers a host of new opportunities,” says Frank Arrigo, Group Manager for Technical Community Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Australia and New Zealand. “The response we’ve had from the industry shows that our partners are seeing the value and market opportunities in betting and building on the advancements in Windows Vista and Office 2007.”
Betting on indeed. While Vista may have a compelling amount of new features and formidable security upgrades (yet to face a major hacking attempt), is this enough to convince businesses to ditch XP and the years of refinement it has gone through? As always, time will tell…
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