VARs Ready To Run With Vista But See Some Obstacles

The new Aero graphical user interface in Vista, which Microsoft released in a New York launch event on Nov. 30, provides 3-D-like rendering, a redesigned Start Menu with Instant Search bar, a live icon preview, transparent Windows and a Flip 3-D feature that flips Windows like a Rolodex, all for better desktop navigation.

Although some say Aero looks nice but delivers little while hogging system resources, Harrison and other solution providers insist the new Windows desktop will help users find business information more quickly and boost overall productivity.

SLIDE SHOW: Inside The Vista Launch

"People can multitask for the first time without having a huge screen before them with multiple windows," Harrison said. "Now you just point to a document and preview what's in there. People who speculate there will be slow adoption in business are wrong. From the UI point of view, Vista is really compelling."

Vista -- Microsoft's first major upgrade of the Windows client in five years -- offers many usability, security, management, performance and mobility enhancements that will deliver a strong return on investment for small and midsize businesses and enterprises out of the gate, according to many solution providers. Still, convincing customers that the Aero GUI isn't just fluff is just one of the challenges that Microsoft partners will face as they try to encourage customers to migrate to Vista.

By far, the biggest objection to Vista will be its hefty hardware requirements. Partners overwhelmingly agree that Vista's processing, memory and graphics requirements -- at minimum, a dual-core processor, at least 1 Gbyte of memory and high-end graphics card -- will necessitate a costly PC refresh cycle for business users and consumers.

Anticipating that probability, Silicon East's Harrison has been deploying Vista-ready PCs at customer sites for the past 18 months. Manalapan, N.J.-based Silicon East even engaged one of its clients, an architectural firm, to participate in Microsoft's Vista Technology Adopter Program (TAP).

Yet partners remain wary about potential application incompatibilities stemming from changes that Microsoft made to the device driver model and the new user accounts control mode, which are designed to make this version of Windows far more secure from attack. And the pressure is on solution providers to develop sales strategies and marketing plans to overcome these potential sales obstacles.

To address that reality, Microsoft has readied resources, including the Windows Vista Business Value Discussion Tool, to help partners prepare for Vista sales calls. But the onus is on channel partners to use the resources available to them and articulate Vista's benefits to customers.

NEXT: VARs describe upgrade environment for Vista.