Vista migration

Who’s Using Vista?

I keep reading all these stories about how nobody at the enterprise level is using Vista–or really, rather, that only a very small minority of enterprises have taken the plunge. Depending on how far back you want to go, I keep hearing numbers for enterprise Vista adoption in even percentages as high as ten percent, thus in the range from 2%, Feb ‘08, to 10%, December, 2008, with plenty of inbetween values reported as well.

On the other hand, Microsoft reports sales of over 300 million Vista licenses as of December, 2008, along with adoptions at “major enterprises like Continental Airlines, the United States Air Force, Virgin Megastores, Charter, Avanade, Eastman Chemical, and PPG…” They also report from other sources that nearly half of all businesses of all sizes, including enterprises, are using or evaluating Windows Vista right now.

So what does this all mean? Alas, that depends on who you ask. I keep seeing stories about Windows 7, which may make an appearance some time next year or early in 2010, stressing the “wait and see” angle on Vista enterprise deployment and use. In some of the same information outlets, I also see reporting about a growing groundswell of Vista adoption across the entire IT landscape as home, home office, and business users find themselves more or less forced into at least trying Vista simply because it comes pre-loaded on so many notebook, laptop, and desktop PCs nowadays.

My own personal take on the situation is that enough people are using Vista to make it worthwhile for me to use it, too, and to learn as much about its inner workings, capabilities, and foibles as I can. Even if the whole world, or the whole enterprise spectrum, hasn’t yet jumped onto the Vista bandwagon, and might never do so if Windows 7 shows up soon enough, there are still enough interested parties–sometimes wary or weary, sometimes enthusiastic, but always concerned about how to make things work as well as possible–to make it worthwhile for me to keep digging into this sometimes frustrating, sometimes mysterious, but always fascinating OS.

I have to guess that many other IT professionals feel the same way, and are wondering why so many keep finding evidence that Vista has (a) failed or (b) never succeeded in any way in the first place. As far as I’m concerned it’s all just part of the ins and outs of working with a multi-million line code base with more functionality than I can learn completely in a lifetime!

Happy Holidays to one and all!

–Ed–

PS: Having met my monthly blogging quota (12) with the posting of this item, I’m going on hiatus until after New Year’s. Thus, let me take this opportunity to wish my readers the happiest of holiday seasons, and a safe and prosperous 2009.

Pre-Vista Certification Training Warm-up

OK, OK. I know I promised to dig into the various Windows Vista certification exams in their MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist) and MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) programs as my next series of blogs. But hey! I found a resource that relates strongly to all of these credentials, and promises to impact your general learning and preparation experience for any or all of the required exams involved in a positive–and affordable–way. What am I talking about? Why it’s the Windows Vista e-Learning catalog page in the Microsoft Learning Web site, of course!

There are over 70 Vista e-Learning courses available. They cost anywhere from $15 to $192, and include small, focused items at lower prices, and collections of e-courses for higher prices, many of which target specific Vista-related certifications and/or related topics, including

• :Course 5232: Planning for 2007 Microsoft Office System Client Deployment
• Collection 5366: Maintaining and Troubleshooting Computers Running Windows Vista
• Course 5371: Advanced Troubleshooting with Windows Sysinternals Tools
• Course 5384: Protecting Against and Removing Malicious Software on Windows Vista
• Course 5381: Installing, Configuring, and Troubleshooting Client Applications in Windows Vista
• Collection 5379: Supporting Windows Vista for the Consumer Support Technician
• Collection 5106: Upgrading Enterprise Desktop Support Skills to Windows Vista
• Collection 5372: Deploying Windows Vista Desktop Images and Applications

Of course, there are oodles and oodles more of these items you can explore at the catalog page, but you’re bound to find multiple topics of interest there if you do a little digging. The value for the training offered is good, as is the coverage, so please consider adding this resource to your arsenal of potential Vista certification preparation tools.

Next blog: I promise to start with the MCTS credentials for Windows Vista. I swear!

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Provides Basic HW Assessments

In enterprise environments, desktop hardware configurations tend to be standardized, and are usually limited to at most a handful of different setups that will be deployed for various job tasks or roles. For companies and organizations considering a move to Windows Vista for those machines it might be wise to download, install, and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor on sample machines that match deployed configurations.

The program comes packaged in a 6.6 MB file named WindowsVistaUpgradeAdvisor.msi, and sets itself up using the standard Windows Installer. Typical installation time is under two minutes, and the program requires Windows XP SP2 or better (it also works with Windows Vista; I checked). Other supporting software elements that must be present include .NET Framework 1.1 or newer, and MSXML 4.0 or better. Installing the program is a snap and simply demands clicking through a handful of screens to accept a EULA, selecting a target directory, then managing startup and desktop icon options.

When you install and run the program on a target machine, it will usually take at least a couple of minutes to complete. In the background the software is enumerating all devices and software on that machine, and comparing them to a database of Vista compatible (and incompatible) items. The best possible outcome for the scan is depicted in the next screenshot.

Of course, this resulted from a put-up job deliberately designed to pass with flying colors. On an older more typical desktop running Windows XP SP3 with 2 GB RAM, Sempron 3200+ CPU, and integrated graphics, the results were a bit less exhilarating: warnings showed up in all three categories that the Upgrade Advisor checks: System (the computer system itself), Device (adapter cards, drives, and other devices inside the PC), and Program (software running on the target machine). The next three screenshots illustrate each of these reports from the Upgrade Advisor.

1. Potential System Issues

2. Potential Device Issues

3. Potential Software Issues

Investigating Potential Issues

When it comes to dealing with the items reported in the Upgrade Advisor’s detail sections, it’s important to formulate a strategy for accommodating or overcoming those results. For example, if users don’t need the Vista Aero theme and its graphics razzle-dazzle, upgraded machines can be configured using Sysprep or some other image construction and deployment tool to turn off that resource-intensive capability. On the other hand, for users that need more capable graphics performance, one could replace an existing graphics adapter or (as would be the case for this test target platform) install a graphics card thereby disabling its older and less capable integrated graphics. The same type of approach generally holds true for both devices and software, with the possible exception of legacy or custom appliications that users simply must run. For such items, if all else fails, remember that you can install older Windows operating systems in Virtual Machines (VMs) running inside Windows Vista, as a next-to-last resort for keeping such items operational (the last resort is to set up a server or target machines elsewhere on the network that Vista users can remote access into).

A Grain of Salt Applies to the Upgrade Advisor’s Advice
The target XP machine on which I chose to run the Upgrade Advisor gets a suprisingly clean bill of health from the software. My own experience has been that Vista runs best on a dual-core processor or better, works best with at least 2 GB of RAM, and requires an Nvidia 7600 or AMD/ATI 2400 graphics card or better, for even minimal and acceptable use. It’s important to bear such observations in mind when pondering how to react to the Upgrade Advisor’s reports and recommendations. Otherwise, end-users may wind up with painfully slow desktop systems. Once you’ve decided on an upgrade strategy, it’s probably wise to upgrade a small group of machines, place them with a hand-picked set of at least moderately knowledgeable users, and let them try out the new gear for two to four weeks, then evaluate those results and react to them, before performing any wholesale upgrades. Otherwise, one wave of effort and expense may simply lead to another, along with a sizable group of end-users in various states of disarray and disaffection.