升级到Vista还是直接升级到Windows7?
当前很多企业都面临这一个选择：是升级到Vista还是直接升级到Windows7. 为什么有这样的问题呢？主要原因大家都明白就是Vista的兼容性问题(参见一篇老文章”Vista的兼容性真的不怎么好” http://sbin.cn/blog/2007/07/26/vistacompatibility/)，当然还有，Vista的用户界面也一直为人诟病。前两天，有位微软的美国专家来访，也提到“who signed off Vista UI?” “why not regard UI design as part of usual architecture design”…，说明微软内部对这个问题也很很多的反思。
现在大家已经看到微软在行动了，这些行动至少包括两个：其一是加速Windows7的发布，大家已经看到这些相关的新闻了。其二是目前微软力推的虚拟化。大家可能要问了，虚拟化和Vista有什么关系？关系很大。 因为兼容性不好，所以企业不愿、或不敢升级到Vista。而”应用“虚拟化则可以帮助建立那些老应用legacy applications的虚拟客户端，所以物理上真正的客户端的兼容性就不那么重要了。微软希望这样可以帮助消除企业的顾虑。
我个人的看法是”应用“虚拟化很好，值得企业IT部门考虑试用，以便保留老应用的兼容性，降低对企业标准Image的“拖后腿”效果，同时也会减少用户的投诉和支持费用。同时，保持Windows XP SP2/3，静观Windows 7的发展。
http://www.techweb.com.cn/news/2008-10-29/373034.shtml
Gartner：跳过Vista升级Windows7有五大风险
作者:友亚 来源: 赛迪网 日期：2008.10.29 09:26
【赛迪网讯】10月29日消息，据国外媒体报道，权威调研机构Gartner日前在一份报告中称，企业不要跳过Windows Vista而直接升级Windows 7。
由于Windows 7有望于明年上市，最晚不会超过2010年，因此很多企业计划跳过表现不佳的Windows Vista而直接升级到Windows 7，甚至连微软都为此做好了准备。
对此，Gartner日前指出，跳过Vista有五大风险，用户需三思而后行：
1. 软件厂商不会持续支持Windows XP
尽管Windows XP的安全补丁持续到2014年，但很多软件开发商的新产品并不会如此长久地支持XP。
2. OEM也将放弃Windows XP
OEM厂商对Windows XP的支持力度每况愈下，很多用户想购买的型号却不支持XP系统，迫使用户购买其他型号PC。
3. 独立软件开发商不会马上支持Windows 7
根据历史经验，要支持新系统，独立软件开发商至少需要一年甚至更长时间，Windows 2000用了将近三年。
4. 微软未必按时发布Windows 7
微软计划在2009年底或2010年初发布Windows 7，但微软一向以不守时而闻名。
5. 用户需要为升级Windows 7付费
Windows 7发布后，很多企业将失去微软的软件保证，因此需要付费升级到Windows 7。软件保证是微软推出的一项保证用户第一时间获得产品更新和新产品，以及在超过产品授权期限后继续获得更新的服务。
今天，微软再次宣布推迟XP的支持时间。当前，XP的装机量是Vista的三倍左右。数字和事实说明一起。呵呵。
Microsoft again extends Windows XP drop-dead date
http://www.networksasia.net/article.php?type=article&id_article=5084
Dec 23, 2008
By Gregg Keizer
Network World Asia
Microsoft Corp. has once again extended an impending deadline for Windows XP’s demise, the company confirmed today.
System builders, the smaller shops and computer dealers that build PCs to order, will now be able to obtain Windows XP Professional licenses through at least May 30, and likely long after, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman. Previously, Microsoft had set Jan. 31 as its deadline for selling new XP licensees to the distributors that supply system builders.
“Microsoft is making accommodation through a flexible inventory program that will allow distributors to place their final orders by January 31, 2009, and take delivery against those orders through May 30, 2009,” said a company spokeswoman in an e-mail.
The relaxed rules directly affect Microsoft’s authorized distributors, which in turn sell licensees to system builders. Previously, the middlemen distributors, which include well-known names such as Ingram Micro, were told that they had to not only place orders for XP licenses by Jan. 31, but also take possession of those licenses, and of course, pay for them.
Rather than require distributors to stockpile licenses prior to the Jan. 31 deadline, Microsoft will now only demand that they place their orders by that date. Under the new plan, they will have until the end of May to actually take delivery of, and pay for, the licenses.
System builders will be allowed to purchase licenses from distributors until the latter exhaust their supplies, which means that custom computer makers will have access to Windows XP Professional until at least May 31, and assuming distributors have licenses remaining in stock, for weeks or even months after that.
The pay-as-you-go plan is the most recent move by Microsoft in a series that has repeatedly lifted restrictions once put on the 7-year-old Windows XP.
In early October, for example, Microsoft added six months to the availability of Windows XP for larger computer makers, dubbed OEMS, for “original equipment manufacturers.” Rather than cut off OEMs, such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., as of Jan. 31, Microsoft shifted the deadline for obtaining Windows XP Professional media to July 31 of next year.
OEMs include Windows XP discs with new PCs that they had “downgraded” from Windows Vista at customer request. The end-around XP’s retail sales retirement date — June 30, 2008 — is a popular means for users to purchase new systems with the older OS preinstalled. By some estimates, more than a third of all new PCs are downgraded from Vista to XP.
Dell, for instance, has been selling downgraded PCs at a markup of $150 above the cost of equipping the machine with Vista Home Premium, the most popular, but not the priciest, version of the newer operating system.
Earlier this year, Microsoft had loosened the XP rules to allow makers of low-cost notebooks, and later budget-priced desktops, to sell machines with Windows XP Home until June 30, 2010.
Microsoft has been unsuccessful in weaning users from Windows XP and persuading them to upgrade to Windows Vista. As of the end of November, for example, Vista’s market share was 20.5 percent, while XP’s was three times greater, accounting for 66.3 percent of all computers that went online during the month.