How Windows Vista Affects Business Users

Generalizing is always a risky proposition, but I think I'm going out on a pretty sturdy limb when I say that the majority of business users don't care about their computer's operating system. They're more focused on getting their job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible; it's the operating system's job to help when it can, and to get out of the way the rest of the time.

So, will Vista help business users get their jobs done? The new OS does come with quite a few efficiencies that should make many day-to-day chores faster. Features like as-you-type searching, faster and more powerful document searching, the streamlined Start menu, live thumbnails (particularly with Flip and taskbar thumbnails), the capability to group and stack documents, and Windows Sidebar are all productivity boosters. On the other hand, in some cases, Vista requires more involvement from the business user. The most obvious example here is document metadata, which is a great way to organize data but requires time to enter the data into each property.

How about getting out of the way of the business user? Most recent versions of Windows do a pretty good job of this, and Vista is no exception. When you're performing normal business chores, you'll probably rarely have to interact with Vista itself. The exception here will be when you try to do anything that runs afoul of the User Account Control policies, and that dialog box comes up yet again. Users will also be getting pestered by Windows Firewall (to block or allow some programs) and Windows Defender (to block or allow certain actions), so I can foresee a backlash against all these so-called "nag" dialog boxes. Also, most existing Windows applications should run well under Vista, but device driver support might be spotty for a while, and that could slow people down. In the end, however, business users want an operating system that works. Nothing sucks up time like an unstable OS that requires constant reboots, tweaking, and repairing. If Vista's promise of increased stability proves true, businesses should flock to the new OS in droves.

Unfortunately, however, the real problem for business users, particularly corporate desktops, will be having enough horsepowerespecially graphics powerto run Vista well and to take advantage of its new features. Business machines tend to have only the minimum amount of RAM necessary, and they almost always have a low-end graphics card. Without upgrades, this will mean that Vista runs quite slowly and that the nice Aero Glass interface and other effects will be disabled.

I mentioned earlier that Windows Vista is the closest that a Microsoft OS has come to being a complete system. If you're a small business owner on a budget, the addition of Windows Calendar, Windows Defender, and the bidirectional Windows Firewall should help your bottom line. Of course, you'll still likely need mainstream business tools such as a spreadsheet, database, and accounting package.

Most small businesses lack an IT department, so Vista's simple installation, easy network setups, new monitoring tools such as the Reliability Monitor, and myriad diagnostic tools should help most businesses reduce third-party IT costs.