I'm running four different operating systems at work: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OSX (Snow Leopard).
From a support standpoint, the biggest issue with Vista is that it won't run a LOT of older software packages. Since Vista came out, the vast majority of new computers that are bought are immediately wiped and have Windows XP installed, because we have proprietary programs that do not run on Vista. It's not as much of a problem with us as it is with the hospital, where more than one critical software package won't run on Windows XP.
Similar issues are common with educational of health care systems that don't have the budgets to upgrade multi-million dollar programs--especially with the push to switch to electronic records. Technology dollars are going to those upgrades.
And of course you have a different set of issues with equipment. If your research equipment cost half a million dollars, and requires Windows XP and Excel XP, you aren't going to upgrade. And of course you don't do data analysis on those machines, so you're stuck keeping your desktop machine in that configuration.
If MS really wants people to upgrade, they're going to need to make sure their OS supports legacy software programs associated with really expensive equipment.
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I'm running four different operating systems at work: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OSX (Snow Leopard).
From a support standpoint, the biggest issue with Vista is that it won't run a LOT of older software packages. Since Vista came out, the vast majority of new computers that are bought are immediately wiped and have Windows XP installed, because we have proprietary programs that do not run on Vista. It's not as much of a problem with us as it is with the hospital, where more than one critical software package won't run on Windows XP.
Similar issues are common with educational of health care systems that don't have the budgets to upgrade multi-million dollar programs--especially with the push to switch to electronic records. Technology dollars are going to those upgrades.
And of course you have a different set of issues with equipment. If your research equipment cost half a million dollars, and requires Windows XP and Excel XP, you aren't going to upgrade. And of course you don't do data analysis on those machines, so you're stuck keeping your desktop machine in that configuration.
If MS really wants people to upgrade, they're going to need to make sure their OS supports legacy software programs associated with really expensive equipment.