This is irrational fear

[S.SubZero]

I work for a big company's IT dept. We handle server hardware stuff and some configuration. About 20-30% of our typical workload is done at our desks, the rest being out at the servers. Our desk work is limited to some internal websites, Outlook, and some terminal services client stuff. Fairly mild, and our workstations reflect this; P4 3ghz boxes, 1gb RAM, typical mass-produced OEM "corporate desktop" jobs. They run XP, and as long as people don't load all kinds of junk on them they do OK for our purposes, though the hard drives are very small and they tend to be sluggish and churn a lot.

At some point, we had a couple of high-end workstations we set up for another department fall through some red tape and land on our desks. These things are quad core 2.4's, 4GB RAM, big hard drives, definitely way above and beyond what we are used to. My boss and I decided to set them up and use them until someone comes to claim them. We set them up, and... NOBODY WILL GO NEAR THEM.

Why?

Because they are running Vista. Vista x64 SP1 actually.

Even my boss, once he saw they had Vista, would not touch them. One ended up on my desk, and I love it. It runs Aero fine, all the work stuff flies, and they are totally stable and slick. I set it all up just how I like it and I really hope I can hang on to it for a while. The other box is sitting in the middle of the room, practically untouched. Here's how the conversation usually goes:

Me: "Why isn't anyone using the other quad?"
Any: "It has VISTA."
Me: "But it runs fast, and everything is great..."
Any: "IT HAS VISTA."

Yesterday someone was sitting at my desk when I came into work (we sort of share desks with the other shifts so this is not unusual) but when I asked why he didn't just sit at the other quad box he said "I didn't want to use Vista so I didn't sit there. I didn't know you had it, but all the other machines were taken by the time I got here."

I'm totally confused. Not only do people prefer XP to Vista, they prefer XP on junk hardware to Vista on GOOD hardware. Huh?!

[ctal]

No doubt part of it is the hearsay that has surrounded Vista since its introduction. But a more significant factor, I think (at least in most workplaces), is that people are continually facing overwhelming workloads, and feel that they have less than zero time available to go through the learning curve that would be required with any new os.

Regards,
-- Al

[jaketerminate]

Its the peoples nostalgia about moving from a comfortable OS that they've been using for years to a new one and at that one that theyve heard had many bugs. I think its just a temporary fear that will soon pass once XP becomes irrelevant with the wave of new technology.

[ctal]

Adding to my previous comment, in addition to people feeling time-pressured in an overall sense, in many cases employees have to be ready to respond very quickly to unforeseen crisis situations that may arise at unpredictable times. Such as, for example, a need to instantly prepare a Power Point briefing for top management, to be presented an hour or two later. They would rightly fear that if such a situation were to arise, they would spend the entire hour or two trying to figure out the software, and have nothing to present.

Basically, I think that the dynamics of a modern, fast-paced, competitive and challenging work environment make the introduction of any new os, or new productivity software for that matter, very problematical.

-- Al

[Cogar]

I agree with ctal. People who have work to do will not willingly give up (say) an extra hour each day for a week to learn the new OS, and then get occasional surprises that may take another hour or two here and there--especially with the big boss breathing down their neck.

[jaketerminate]

Originally Posted by ctal

Adding to my previous comment, in addition to people feeling time-pressured in an overall sense, in many cases employees have to be ready to be respond very quickly to unforeseen crisis situations that may arise at unpredictable times. Such as, for example, a need to instantly prepare a Power Point briefing for top management, to be presented an hour or two later. They would rightly fear that if such a situation were to arise, they would spend the entire hour or two trying to figure out the software, and have nothing to present.

Basically, I think that the dynamics of a modern, fast-paced, competitive and challenging work environment make the introduction of any new os, or new productivity software for that matter, very problematical.

-- Al

Agreed also.

[polonyc2]

if that were the case then every company would still be using Windows 95...

when a new OS is rolled out all employees are given cheat sheets to all the most used programs/application along with a hotline to the IT department for any issues that may come up...in today's computer driver workplace I would hope that a new OS is not as crippling as some of you seem to think it is

I remember when my company rolled out XP...most computer illiterate people just want to know where their most used programs are located and how to use them...and also how to pretty up their Desktop ...it's not rocket science guys

**then again the significantly older demographics of this forum I'm sure plays a role in people's perceptions

[polymorphic]

It is not irrational. I work in an IT dept, too, and can tell you that Vista SP1 IS stable. Pre-SP1 was not. What is irrational is pushing out a brand new OS with different problems and folder locations to all your users who will in turn come to your desk asking why their documents and settings user folder is a shortcut and doesn't open, or why they can't find their Firefox extensions folder where it normally is, or why they can't do anything without a box popping up asking if they really want to open a file which they used everyday in XP, etc., etc.

A rational approach is waiting a couple years until your users have migrated at home to Vista, train themselves and become comfortable with the OS. Then you can begin slowly rolling out Vista company wide with little user training. Of course by then Windows 7 will be out and we will be having this same discussion...

[XJ.]

Originally Posted by Cogar

I agree with ctal. People who have work to do will not willingly give up (say) an extra hour each day for a week to learn the new OS, and then get occasional surprises that may take another hour or two here and there--especially with the big boss breathing down their neck.

Well, companies should do what they used to do: setup a one day class for employees and TEACH them. Too many companies have stopped investing in their employees to add 0.2% to their bottom line. It's beyond stupid. The greatest potential value added that a company can achieve is through a constant effort to increase the capabilities of their employees. </steps off soap box>

As far as Vista goes, it got a bad rap from the start and now it can't shake it. I've used it and now actually like it better than XP (so long as UAC is off).

[Cogar]

So just how is changing the OS of a computer supposed to increase the capabilities of a company's employees? By requiring retraining? By requiring hardware upgrades? Back in the Windows 98 days, it was a benefit to upgrade to Windows 2000 Pro (after SP1, so we could get software to run), because people's machines crashed much less often, networking capabilities were better, etc. I am not aware of any similar major advantages achieved by switching from XP to Vista.

As a "byproduct" of a Vista upgrade, since adoption of Vista is also typically accompanied by adoption of Office 2007, we now have files circulating in our company in .doc and .docx format, .xls and .xlsx format, etc. To overcome this, the users of Office 2003 have to add a tool to help them open the new format, etc. You may say this is a minor problem, but is it not increasing the capabilities of the company.

[XJ.]

The rant was a general one about a trend I see in companies today that's 180 degrees opposite that of companies 20 years ago.

Only the last sentence was about Vista.

[polymorphic]

Originally Posted by Cogar

So just how is changing the OS of a computer supposed to increase the capabilities of a company's employees? By requiring retraining? By requiring hardware upgrades? Back in the Windows 98 days, it was a benefit to upgrade to Windows 2000 Pro (after SP1, so we could get software to run), because people's machines crashed much less often, networking capabilities were better, etc. I am not aware of any similar major advantages achieved by switching from XP to Vista.

As a "byproduct" of a Vista upgrade, since adoption of Vista is also typically accompanied by adoption of Office 2007, we now have files circulating in our company in .doc and .docx format, .xls and .xlsx format, etc. To overcome this, the users of Office 2003 have to add a tool to help them open the new format, etc. You may say this is a minor problem, but is it not increasing the capabilities of the company.

Freakin' on the money. There is no compelling reason for a small business to upgrade to Vista. A small business doesn't generally have the revenue to set aside days of training for their employees. They don't have an IT staff of several employees dedicated to individual areas like hardware, software, Exchange, etc.

There is no demand for a new OS at this time, so Vista is a lame duck. XP security is tight, performance and reliability are rock solid, compatibility is on a grand scale and end user familiarity is 99%. And none of my end users are concerned or even aware of DX10's ability to render special shaders or water effects nor do they care about XP's lack of ability to render desktop icons in vector instead of pixels.

Therefore, upgrading to Vista is irrational.

[ctal]

Originally Posted by polymorphic

A rational approach is waiting a couple years until your users have migrated at home to Vista, train themselves and become comfortable with the OS. Then you can begin slowly rolling out Vista company wide with little user training.

An excellent thought!

Regards,
-- Al

[Wingit]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

**then again the significantly older demographics of this forum I'm sure plays a role in people's perceptions

I hope you are just trolling, lol

[polonyc2]

I'm always trolling

but you and Skully are excluded from my trollishness