Brien Posey is one of my favorite authors and I will go out of my way to read his articles.
Not necessarily because I agree with him, but rather because he's not a Microsoft stooge. If M$ is wrong, he won't try and gloss it over. That earns my respect.
I caught his article on "Windows XP is Here to Stay (at least for now)", and of course I don't agree with his XP/Vista comparison for small businesses or home users. I think only well-funded large corporate IT departments can deploy Vista with the best chance of success from a productivity standpoint.
Everyone else is going to come out worse for the wear. Not only in terms of productivity, but in dollars lost through training, support or 3rd party replacement tools.
My unposted comment (since the Linux & M$ fanatics tend to romp right on top of these kinds of comments) went something like this:
The questions I'm getting from small businesses faced with new purchases is not only advice on Vista but from a workstation perspective; Office 2007. 2007 is the only currently-selling Office Suite from Microsoft today.
The two create a perfect storm of computer user learning curve in a time when productivity maximization is critical.
Linux + Open Office during this economic downturn is a very viable alternative when you consider the compatibility with the MS Office suite, the learning curve in either product (and it's arguable that 2007's is more steep than OO on the UI alone), and the most critical aspect facing everyone today: Price.
I do agree with one point of Brien's. If you have XP, don't feel compelled to move on to Vista. The more time spent studying your current productivity the more sense one choice or another makes for you.
All that glitters (or is Web 2.0ish) ain't gold!Labels: computer, Linux, microsoft, small business, windows