Today, according to Microsoft's Windows Vista slogan, is “a new day.” But I'll bet Bill Gates and his team would give anything to go back to the good ol' days.
By that I mean the launch of Windows 95, when the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up became the official theme of what remains the most important software launch in computer industry history. The world had seen operating systems before, but Windows 95 coincided with the point at which the Internet drove adoption of home computing to unprecedented levels. For consumers, the operating system (and in fact the computer itself) evolved from a novelty item like a video game console to a household staple like their washer and dryer. For companies, having Windows-based PCs connected to the Internet became part of the cost of doing business. Microsoft — and the rest of the industry — has been growing incrementally ever since.
Windows Vista, like predecessors Windows XP and Windows 2000, is approaching the kind of hurdle that the sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster might face: People may have enjoyed the original, but they wonder whether a follow-up was really necessary. Of course, you can't hang on to an old operating system (OS) forever, but even with all its bugs Microsoft generally does a good enough job with its products that customers can afford to delay an upgrade for years. And while a Hollywood sequel might promise more action and improved special effects — essentially what Microsoft is promising with better security, improved reliability — customers still might not bite unless they have recently experienced computer cashes, viruses or are tired of the same old desktop.
Microsoft and other vendors like to refer to the OS as a “platform,” which means nothing to many users.
Instead, it might be better to think of Windows Vista as the stage in a theatre. When an audience comes to see a show, they come to look at actors, and in this case the actors are the applications that perform on top of Windows Vista. Of course, a good actor should be able to dazzle audiences in any setting, but there's no doubt that a space that can accommodate creative set pieces and offers sophisticated lighting equipment to showcase their movements is an important asset.
Windows Vista could be a great stage for a lot of strong performances from independent software vendors (ISVs). It offers desktop search features, for example, that might become a useful way of helping users locate and keep track of the growing number of files generated by many other software programs. SuperFetch and ReadyBoost could allow a lot of programs to launch more quickly and avoid using up a lot of a computer's memory. Speech Recognition might bring about long-promised opportunities for the disabled, as well as everyday users. Nothing on this fancy platform will mean much, however, unless Microsoft can cast some superstar ISVs.
Some Canadian firms that might end up justifying some Windows Vista upgrades include Flowfinity Wireless, a Vancouver-based firm whose software automates the way mobile business users exchange information. Its president, Dmitry Mikhailov, said Flowfinity made great use of Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Communications Foundation, software that helps make programs work better together and allows for animated user interfaces. “Without having this technology, making some of these features would have required major investments,” Mr. Mikhailov says. “I wouldn't even know how to do it.”
Michael Matrick, president of 90 Degree Software, is also based in Vancouver and said Windows Vista will help bring about visually appealing applications that make it easier for users to understand how to share data.
In 90 Degree's case, the result is a business intelligence software program for large businesses. “It gave us an opportunity to accelerate development timelines but introduce features that differentiate us from competition,” he says. “Other companies will be forced to work with a more legacy-based stack.”
ISVs aren't the only ones crowding into the spotlight Windows Vista shines.
Because the OS will feature technology called Aero and Flip that will allow for a more 3-D viewing experience, companies like Nvidia are creating what they call a “graphical processor unit,” a board that is designed to fit in a computer and make sure it properly makes use of Aero once Vista is installed. Traditional microprocessor companies like Intel and AMD, meanwhile, hope that Windows Vista's arrival will dovetail with their efforts to pack several cores or “brains” into a single chip, assisting the OS in speeding up software programs. Like Microsoft, though, great software programs are usually the motivation that will lead customers to upgrade to faster processors.
This is the big difference between Windows Vista and other Microsoft launches, though: Microsoft is putting its own applications front and centre. Besides Windows Vista, the company is also launching the next generation of Office today, which contains productivity tools like Word and Excel, as well as Exchange, its e-mail product. There is some logic in this. Who better to make software for a Microsoft OS than Microsoft itself? But it is also a strategy that could backfire. By recommending customers upgrade to all three at once, Microsoft could alienate businesses that see it as a mammoth project. Worse, its marketing of Office and Exchange could distract the market from ISV products that might make Windows Vista a real must-have.
If you want to define the OS platform another way, think of it as a stovetop. It might have great temperature controls and self-cleaning burners, but you only get a real sense of its power when you see food being prepared on it.
With Windows Vista, Microsoft may be realizing that the IT industry is maturing to the point where launching an OS is not in and of itself that big a deal — can you imagine a worldwide launch event for a new stove? Although word processing and e-mailing represent the most common PC activities after surfing the Internet, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 are simply variations on some very old recipes. If Microsoft wants to ensure its OS remains the market leader, it's going to have to spend more time promoting the ISVs that can show businesses how to cook up something new.
Shane Schick is editor of ITBusiness.ca.
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