Solution Providers: Windows Is Not Collapsing

"There is no way Windows is collapsing," said Bob Venero, the president and CEO of FutureTech, a Holbrook, New York solution provider that partners with the software giant. "They are trying to build more feature functionality into the product set to support where the world is going from a needs basis and there are obvivously challenges associated with that. But if anyone has the research and development and the breadth of employees and technologists to make sure that Windows and Vista are successful there is no question it has to be Microsoft and will be Microsoft."

Gartner analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald at the Gartner conference maintained in the session that Microsoft is overburdened by legacy code and faces significant challenges in the years ahead.

Venero, however, said the door will never close on Windows or Vista. In fact, he pointed out Microsoft is taking the operating systems to a new level with Version 7 that is already being talked about. The biggest challenge Microsoft faces is making sure that the latest and greatest applications work with the latest operating system.

"There are definitely challenges with the third party software delvelopers being able to tie into the updates and changes within the operating system," said Venero. For example, he said, FutureTech recently rolled out a Cisco IP telephony solution that will not work on Vista. "I actually had to downgrade my machine to XP to support the (Cisco) dialer," said Venero. "Those are the kind of things that are out there constantly for Microsoft. Microsoft is responding by opening up its code recognizing the need to make sure that the third party developers can tie into the OS."

A third party company may not be able to release on time a product that works with Vista which affects the third party company's revenue stream and go to market strategy.

Patrick Derosier, co-owner of CPUGuys, a Hanson Mass. system builder and Microsoft partner, scoffs at the notion that Windows is collapsing.

"Windows is going to be here for a long time," he said. "Microsoft has enough money and research muscle to keep Windows going many, many years into the future."

Derosier said Microsft is making sure that Windows will be more relevant in an Internet-driven world by making it "more modular so that it has different features and different price points for consumers all the way up to enterprise users."