Microsoft, Amid Vista Flak, Publicizes Business Benefits
Wednesday June 4th, 2008 / 23h50
By Jessica Hodgson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)- Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), amid criticism of its Vista operating system, Wednesday released a white paper to persuade business customers not to skip its current operating system, Vista, to wait for the next generation system, Windows 7. Microsoft argues that Vista offers greater security and can save business customers money, and warns that waiting for Windows 7 will make the transition to that operating system more difficult. The white paper comes as Microsoft has faced mounting pressure to keep supporting Windows XP, its previous operating system, due to discontent among some business customers. General Motors Corp. (GM) said two weeks ago it was considering skipping Vista and waiting for Windows 7. In an introduction to the white paper, Microsoft Vice President of Product Management, Mike Nash, acknowledges that in the initial launch version of Vista, which came out in 2006, "there was a tradeoff between (security) benefits (of Vista) and device and application compatibility." He goes on to urge customers and partners to "look again" at the business benefits of Vista, and in particular, says that by skipping Vista and migrating directly to Windows 7, customers are "missing out on the proven benefits such as better security, productivity, search, mobility, manageability, and infrastructure optimization." Compared with Windows XP, Vista has much greater security, Nash said. Companies will also be able to make cost savings by running Vista, the white paper says. Two IT research specialists at Gartner earlier this year said a number of large organizations had delayed their decision to implement Vista. Microsoft said it will stop selling Windows XP in June, although some computer makers will be allowed to ship machines with "downgrade rights", so customers can run the previous version of the Windows operating system. Microsoft shares closed up 23 cents, or 0.8%, at $27.54 Wednesday. - By Jessica Hodgson, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6455; jessica.hodgson@dowjones.com
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