Microsoft's year-old Windows Vista operating system could get a boost now that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has issued the first set of bug fixes for the product.
Many users, particularly businesses and other enterprises, won't consider installing a new Microsoft
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been available for download from Microsoft's Windows Update Web site since March 18. Microsoft plans to push the fixes out to Windows Vista users who have chosen to get automatic updates starting in mid-April. PC makers have begun to include the updates on new PCs.
Service Pack 1, or SP1, addresses some of the biggest complaints about the new operating system, particularly performance, reliability and support for newer hardware and standards.
Critics of Windows Vista have complained about its rich hardware requirements and slow performance compared with its predecessor, Windows XP. PC makers, including Dell (NASDAQ:DELL)
"I don't think we've ever had a case like this where there's been such resistance to move to the new operating system that people have asked for the old one to be extended," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft.
In September, Microsoft extended the availability of Windows XP among PC makers and retail channels for an additional five months until June 30. It also extended the availability of the Windows XP Starter Edition in emerging markets, where ultra-low-cost PCs are more common, until June 30, 2010.
With SP1, Microsoft has improved annoying glitches in Vista like slow file copying. But problems remain, Cherry says.
For starters, Vista's "hardware footprint is massive," he said. Vista requires more processing and graphics power than XP, so its use requires more expensive PCs.
Microsoft also hasn't done a good job setting the optimal hardware requirements for running the full-featured flavors of Vista, namely the Ultimate and Enterprise editions, Cherry says.
Still, it's only a matter of time before people get Windows Vista, analysts say. They predict it will happen largely through new PC purchases, not software upgrades. Microsoft's Windows operating systems are on more than 90% of the world's PCs. And the date when Microsoft pulls Windows XP off the market is fast approaching.
Windows Vista was broadly released on Jan. 30, 2007, though some enterprise users got it earlier.
Many corporations have delayed adopting Windows Vista because of issues related to performance and stability, says Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint 20echnologies Associates. The release of SP1 should give customers more confidence in the software, but they're likely to remain cautious for awhile, Kay says.
Most of the fixes in Vista SP1 had been released already to users who get the regular, automatic updates, says David Zipkin, Microsoft senior product manager for the Windows group. But SP1 includes some new fixes as well, he says.
"SP1 focused on improving the quality of the experience and making Windows run a bit faster in some cases and making it more reliable," Zipkin said. "We spent a lot of time looking at the most commonly occurring crashes and hangs."
In the full-featured versions of Vista, Microsoft expanded the BitLocker security feature.
Newstex ID: IBD-0001-24108187
Originally published in the March 31, 2008 version of Investor's Business Daily.
