Windows 7: the untold story of how the enterprise gets snubbed

Also, the cost of SA is dramatically less than, say, buying 5 Windows client licenses for a particular piece of hardware. That's why Vista Enterprise (read: Software Assurance) is worth the money for corporations with incompatible legacy software. Also, companies that buy OEM hardware with OEM OS software included, don't have to buy a full volume license agreement. You can buy Software Assurance as an add-on to OEM software, and get most of the same benefits (transfer rights, and spread payments excluded). Vista Enterprise from Vista Business would be one of those benefits. Upgrade rights are another.

"I was saying that there are not enough differences between Windows Business/Enterprise and let set Windows Home Premium." Multimedia vs. corporate networking support. Corporations don't usually want/need that level of multimedia functionality, and home users almost never connect to an AD server, nor do they need to inherit GP. "Currently, the existence of Windows Business is not even justified according to me. Its existence would be justified if there wasn't Vista Ultimate ,as it would pack both the features of Home Premium and Enterprise for those who want to use the same computer at work and at home." For one, it costs less. For another, you don't need an SA contract to buy it. And finally, see my above response. It's cheaper, but with less features that many customers don't need. It's the same reason why they offer Home Premium, instead of just Ultimate to consumers. "We have been unable to help our main customer to upgrade to Vista because their core applications can't run on Vista." That's just not an issue with Vista Enterprise - see my previous post. "They can not really ready to run these applications on current virtual machines solutions as some has proven to be extraordinary slow on Virtual PC and similar virtualization solutions." A) RAM is cheap. B) Any system sold within the last few years has VT hardware and runs Virtual PC at ~80% of full speed with hardware acceleration turned on (it's off by default in Virtual PC) C) If you're considering upgrading OS's, why not application software too? Otherwise, what's the reason in just upgrading the OS? (check your support terms on the LOB software) "A good solution could have been to leverage virtualization to enable transparent ,,efficient and close to flawless backward compatibility" App-V already offers that from a server-hosted level. Med-V (not released yet) will offer that at a managed-workstation-level. App-V is more complicated to set up, but requires less management. Med-V is also complicated to set up, but requires more management than App-V. Microsoft's System Center tools help manage both much easier than can be done independently though.

"how about just "home" and "business" versions. Honestly. That's all we need." There will already be an Ultimate version that combines the features of both, and an Enterprise version that offers the same as Vista Enterprise. The cost of Software Assurance is worth it when you consider the multi-license cost savings over paying for separate licenses. SA for a single OS license as an add-on, costs less than a single license, so it already pays for itself the first time you need to run production VM's.

Windows 7 is about repairing the horrible brand and story that is Vista. Windows 7's much talked about improvements aren't that great at all. They are simply better than Vista, which is horrible. So you're not suddenly greeted with a great OS in Windows 7, you're just seeing the same old OS with a new coat of paint. It's coat, upon coat, upon coat. Same dog with different lipstick. Don't get caught up in the stories about Windows 7, it's same old lame OS.

Hey Shark, You don't have to take robertsjoe's word on how Vista is the same old lame OS. In the interview Paul says, "Also, Microsoft did itself a disfavor with its naming scheme. Windows 7 is really Windows 6.1, an incremental upgrade to Vista." An incremental upgrade to Vista. Not my words, and honestly, I don't know, never used Vista and just now trying Win 7 under VMWare on my Macbook Pro.

Windows 7 does feel much more like a consumer based released and I'm happy with that. Even my brother who works actively in IT, really loves Windows 7 in ways he never did with Vista. I understand bring elements of an Enterprise OS to Windows 7 Business and Ultimate Edition. However, I view Windows 7 and Vista more like consumer releases that only meet Enterprise editions to a certain extent. I think the Windows Server editions should be geared in such a way towards business. Bringing the Enterprise file format to the consumer edition was definitely a boost for Windows. However, I think Microsoft should keep the two worlds separate with the exception of a business/professional edition. I do see why Microsoft is making an Ultimate Edition. The superset of all editions for consumers make sense for power users, enthusiasts, and IT professionals on their home machines. A business/professional edition might make sense for small businesses as a workstation OS. As for our resident troll robertsjoe, he's afraid because a whole lot of Mac Users are liking Windows 7. Just as much as a whole lot of Windows users like Macs. Microsoft fumbled the football with Vista, but the overall judgement of the Beta is that MIcrosoft is on the right track. So, he's scared. He wouldn't be devoting so much energy to Windows 7 unless it was a genuine threat to his i-Religion. Now I might have my differences with Lindy and a few of our resident Mac fans, but even they can see that MIcrosoft has stepped its game up with Windows 7. Its not perfect, but this is how OSes should be made. It should be more intuitive. It should work well on different generations of hardware. It should be better than the last version. If Windows 7 was such a dud, people wouldn't be going out of their way to saying that the OS lives up to the hype.

"If Windows 7 was such a dud, people wouldn't be going out of their way to saying that the OS lives up to the hype." There is no "hype". It's just a return to the less mediocre than Vista days of XP. Nothing great. It's great to see all you Borg Drones trying to build up hype, given your enormous jealousy of the press that Apple receives, but it's something that will not ever be attained. Microsoft is the new IBM. Big and boring. People don't care. Businesses do. People with any taste, smart people don't.

Microsoft Security Director steps down as Windows security threats plague and increase. http://rcpmag.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=10539 It's surprising people are so dumb as to use something as bad as Windows.

chuck, I really don't care if 7 is the "same old lame OS" that Vista was. I like both the OSs, so it doesn't matter. I think 7 is an evolution of Vista with about 300 new features and a couple of secret ones too. That's not the issue though. The issue is robertsjoe's incessant trolling on this blog. He behaves like a spoiled kid most of the time. You're usually more reasonable and definitely a lot smarter, but these last couple of days, you've been behaving like robertsjoe too. People like robertsjoe feel unsettled and nervous when someone praises Microsoft and feel the need to search the net for negative news about Microsoft to make themselves feel good. Even a post about desktop themes for Windows 7 turns into a war zone because of such people. I think robertsjoe needs some counseling either from his parents or from someone at his school.

@robertsjoe - Give it a rest. You really need some help. I use a Mac running OS X Leopard every single day. I also use Vista , XP, and now Windows 7. I also use HP-UX, several Linux variants, Solaris, z-OS and many others. Each and every one of them do what they were designed to do very well. Can you tell us what OSes that you have used and continue to use on a daily basis? My guess is that it is somewhere around 1...OS-X. I am guessing that it is not even Leopard, and it is not even on a PC that you own. I might be wrong. So, you don't like Microsoft...that's cool. But you are truly obsessed with bashing them, and that is troublesome...I would hope that you can see that...but, obviously you can't. You know, Einstein said that the true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Obviously, the results of your childish rants here have not changed since you began. Please move on and let the rest of us have intelligent discussions...mikegalos has moved on...provide some balance and do the same. I don't expect you to heed this advice...in fact, I think that you will probably post more childish gibberish...so whatever. You just keep proving your insanity and/or immaturity over and over again. --tayme

@shark47: "People like robertsjoe feel unsettled and nervous when someone praises Microsoft and feel the need to search the net for negative news about Microsoft to make themselves feel good" That is exactly what Paul does on this blog. Post negative about Apple to compensate for the typical Microsoft Inferiority Complex and make himself, and all his little sheep (like you), feel good.

@tayme: "So, you don't like Microsoft...that's cool. But you are truly obsessed with bashing them, and that is troublesome.." Like this blog is obsessed about bashing Apple. Biased to the end. I'm sorry to read that you have a screw loose. BTW, I use Leopard only. It's simply the best OS out there. I don't waste my time with inferior shit (Windows). When I need to use Windows, I do so running it in a VM. I would not waste any hardware specifically for that pile of crap. I do what I need and then shut it down. Wash myself to remove the stains from using Windows, then feel much better. "same thing over and over again and expecting different results" What are you babbling on about? There is no expectation of different results. Different results of what? I am simply trying to help people who are using inferior products. But it's obvious that some people are blind and can't see any other way. Just pointing out the enormous amounts of FUD spread by you, other Microsofties and this blog. Lie, incorrect facts and general FUD.

@tayme: "That is absolutely the most immature and insane comment that I have ever readon Paul's blogs or anywhere else." Obviously you then don't actually read Paul's blogs?

Microsoft lays off 5000 *FIVE THOUSAND* people this week, and not even a word on it from Paul?

Robertsjoe, While I don't run antivirus / anti spyware on my Mac, since I don't go to nonsense warez / porn sites, how can you continue to say that the Mac doesn't *need* those programs, when a trojan has just been discovered in the wild? Sure, it's not a drive by type issue like a lot of the ones IE had, but come on. Don't you think that there are plenty of people pirating iWork 09, installing it, putting in their admin password, and getting infected?

Shark, "You're usually more reasonable and definitely a lot smarter, but these last couple of days, you've been behaving like robertsjoe too." Well, I try to be reasonable :). The post in the themes thread about the Microsoft layoffs certainly unsettled some, but I think it is legitimate because the context in which blog posts are made, relative to what is going on in the world, can be as illuminating as the posts themselves. In short, what Paul does NOT say---about Apple or Microsoft---is as clear an indicator on his "fair and balanced" claims as what is actually posted. Paul has MANY times claimed that his Jerimiads are to "balance" Mac fanzine sites; he should eat his own dogfood. Changing the subject: I installed Win7 inside VMWare, and it is not bad. Installation was dead simple, was at least as fast as a clean OS X install, etc. My impressions so far are very superficial and at least mildly favorable, but perhaps someone here can help: I like the dock/taskbar on the right, but on Win7 the minimum size for the taskbar is still to big for my liking. I've unlocked the thing, and it will get bigger, but not smaller than a minimum that I find too large. Is there a secret method to reduce the size? (The OSX Dock is much more scaleable and I'm used to that....) In Windows Explorer, or whatever the file browser is, is there some way to make a multi-column view like the OS X Finder? This has become the only form of file browser that I like and I'd like to get as close to that as possible. The general question: What's a good reference for a Windows newbie on Win7? Apparently this may be coming to an office environment near me, so I'll look at this some more...

Sub, all of your points of clarification are spot on. Back on track, I watched a great MS commercial about enterprise services on the Discovery channel last night at 10:45PM EST. Obviously enterprise won't be abandoned, but perhaps another Windows version could arise?

@Avro - "In any case I scan my OS X drives every month, never found anything, maybe never will, but better to be safe than sorry." That is the same approach that I take...on Linux and OS X, I use ClamAV; on Windows, I have been using Live OneCare and on 7 I installed AVG. Like you said...if you use safe internet browsing habits, you will not get a virus on any of the OSes for the most part. Yes, Windows is more vulnerable...I agree with subzero...I think that it is due to the vast number of opportunities that Windows presents. Think about this for a minute...the people that do not have automatic updates turned on in Windows or ignore the pop-up that it presents would be the same people that would not have Software Update set up automatically or ignore the bouncing ball that it presents when an update is available. If the blackhats that write malware for profit saw an opportunity to make more money because OS X was more prevalent, they would do it in a second. That is how criminals thing...where can I get the most bang for my buck. I truly believe this...and eventually, we may just see it...either way, I am safe. --tayme