In this article, we'll take a look at some of the reasons an
SMB might benefit from going to Vista, the costs and drawbacks of doing so, and
some factors you should consider in planning a Vista deployment.
Windows Vista, Microsoft's newest desktop/network client
operating system, has been available to businesses for a couple of months now. There's been a lot of
hype -- from both advocates and detractors of the new OS -- and many of those who
make IT decisions for small and midsize companies are wondering whether they
should be planning an upgrade to Vista soon, later or never.
Much is being made in the tech press about Vista's new user
interface, Aero Glass. It features transparent window borders, impressive
animations and other visual enhancements often described as "eye candy." Glass won't run on all computers -- it requires a compatible video card and more system memory.
Glass adds a lot of "cool factor" to the user experience, but its benefits for business use are questionable, and it's certainly not a compelling reason for most companies to upgrade.
On the other hand, contrary to some media commentary, the Glass interface is also not a reason not to upgrade to Vista. Although it's true that the new interface uses more system resources, there's no requirement to run it -- you can easily turn it off and go back to a classic Windows interface without all the visual effects with just a few clicks of the mouse. And the Basic, non-glass interface runs on older or lower-end systems that can't support Glass.
Click here for more info on the Basic and Aero Glass interfaces.
What about security?
I've seen a number of articles in the tech press downplaying
Vista's security improvements. No, upgrading to Vista won't make your systems
invulnerable to attack. But few serious technical experts dispute that Vista is
the most secure version of Windows. It's also true that XP, with the latest
service pack and security updates, is also a pretty secure OS, but Vista has
some definite advantages, such as:
UAC has emerged as one of Vista's most controversial features because of its "in your face" method of operation. But by running most tasks with standard user privileges even when you're logged onto an administrative account, and prompting for permission before doing anything that requires admin privileges, it goes a long way toward preventing many exploits that rely on elevation of privileges. For more info on UAC, see my article titled Working with (and around) Windows Vista User Account Control.
2. Internet Explorer 7 Protected Mod
IE7 contains several security enhancements, including an
anti-phishing filter, ActiveX opt-in and URL display
protections, that are included in the version of IE7 that you can install on
Windows XP. However, IE7's Protected
Mode is only available when you run IE7 on Vista. It works in conjunction with
UAC to protect against elevation of privilege attacks through the browser. When
running in Protected Mode, IE7 can't make changes to any user or system files
without your consent. The only location to which web applications can write is
a temporary folder.
3. BitLocker Drive Encryption
As the workforce becomes more mobile, businesses grow more
concerned with the safety of data, especially on portable computers that can be
easily stolen or lost. BitLocker (which only comes in
the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista) can protect against an
unauthorised user booting into another operating system off a removable disk to
access data files on the Vista computer. For more information about BitLocker, click here.
