Review: Vista Shows Big Promise For VARs, But Will It Deliver?

For the channel, the launch of Vista -- along with Office 2007 -- is a major milestone that should set the tone for VARs over the next few years. But the big question is, does Microsoft's latest round of products sport the improvements and functionality to keep VARs on the Windows bandwagon, or will the new products drive VARs to competitors?

With that question in mind, the CRN Test Center dove into Microsoft's next-generation platform to determine what's good and what's bad for the channel.

VARs will find that Vista has evolved into an OS of compromises, enhancements and backward compatibility, all to meet the wide variety of desktop users. Vista is broken down into multiple versions: two versions for home use, and business, enterprise and "ultimate" versions. For the channel, either the business or ultimate versions will be the primary movers, with the enterprise version being aimed at volume-license agreement customers.

Engineers have followed the evolution of the product since the initial beta release, through to the release candidates (1 and 2) to the RTM code made available in early November. Each release has shown significant improvement over the previous one and the RTM code shows significant refinement.

Surprisingly though, Microsoft has been reluctant to release volume-license agreement keys or even single product keys for the RTM code, which has complicated testing. Is that an indication there is still something to hide or is the company that paranoid about piracy?

That said, the RTM code will run for 30 days without activation, but to install the code legally on more than one system, multiple install keys are needed. Once installed, updates from Microsoft are frequent and in most cases happen without user intervention, an indication that bugs are being addressed and patches pushed out after the code going to RTM status.

Vista incorporates several features that will help fuel sales. First and foremost is the product's improved security. Microsoft has integrated antispyware, antiphishing, antispoofing and a vastly improved firewall. What's more, users can sign up for antivirus protection via Windows Live OneCare. Engineers believe that is Microsoft really wants to push the security message, OneCare should be included with Vista and not be an add-on.

Engineers, however, encountered problems with the online service, such as it preventing Microsoft's own VPN client from working on a Vista test PC.

The security theme continues with Internet Explorer 7, which strives to protect Vista's internal code from compromise using a "digital sandbox" approach that allows users to "play" on the Internet without spilling malware over to the OS. Another nod to security comes from new user account control paradigm, which allows administrators to fine-tune users access rights.