Should I migrate to Vista?

Well now SP1 is out we should start seeing more businesses moving to Vista. As a platform it seems more stable than any other even if it is a bit hungry. There are still applications that have yet to become Vista compatible however upgrades are becoming available.

If you are replacing hardware then it may be sensible to keep a machine to run legacy applications until the update is available. Why not find out what works under vista and then decide. Once you have your list a PC could be rebuilt with only those applications installed. This could keep your machines less cluttered and much quicker as a result.

For example:

The Brother MFC-620CN comes with a nice suite of programs and these work well with XP but under Vista the OCR program is not available. Indeed it is only when you select the OCR button from the menu that you find it is not there. If you only use this feature very occasionally then perhaps the upgrade can wait.

LG's OneTouch. The software for this is limited to drivers. Under XP there are the usual options to record DVD's copy and even record to DVD from S-Video but under Vista none of these are readily available. LG, Hontesch dont have any updates to allow you to use the full features of the package so it is back to XP.

On the Upside the pen integration is very simple - Just plug in and go. Microsoft Office 2007 works very well (as you would expect).

I would recommend building Vista under a seperate partition. Booting to it and updating the packages as they become available is a sensible option. When the application fails you can quickly revert to the XP partition. Why not create a list under Vista of all those applications that error. When the list is reduced to an acceptable level it is time to move over.

Remember Microsoft allows the downgrading to XP as part of their license (check microsoft.com for details). This will become all the more important as XP disapears from the shelves. The application writers could be accused of dragging their feet - especially when you buy a product with bundled software only to find it will only work on what is now an old operating system.