Dell warns of Vista upgrade challenges

Dell has taken the unusual step--for a PC vendor of its size--of toning down its sales pitch for Microsoft's Vista operating system and warning businesses of the migration challenges that lie ahead for them.

The step is particularly unusual because one of the issues the hardware vendor is warning business about is the extra hardware they will need to buy.

"They need to be looking at the number of images they will be installing and the size of these images," said Dell's European client services business manager, Niall Fitzgerald, on Wednesday. "A 2GB image for each user will have a big impact."

In the past, Microsoft had suggested that a 1GB image was fine for Vista, but Fitzgerald said image sizes of 2GB and larger will be likely.

As a result, said Fitzgerald, Dell is "stepping back" from telling people they must upgrade. "We are set up to give people all the guidance and support they need for this," he said. "We are not here to promote Microsoft and tell people they should buy it. We can show them the advantages of Vista and what they need to put in place to begin to move across."

Application migration is a key area, Fitzgerald said, echoing comments from Gartner on the size of the issue and the need for considerable testing. "You have to allow time for testing," he said. "Vista is big and complex and there is a lot to it. It requires a lot of testing. You can't just shut off XP on Friday and start Vista on Monday morning. There will be training. There are things to learn."

Overall the challenges will be significant and "should not be underestimated", added Fitzgerald. However, he still thinks that business should go ahead with the migration and not wait for Microsoft to release its first service pack.

Last month, Microsoft passed 40 million sales of Vista, but most of those appear to be to consumers rather than businesses, which have been slow to upgrade.

While Fitzgerald accepted that some business are holding back from migrating to Vista, he denied that there is a widespread feeling that it is better to wait for Service Pack 1. "I have heard that, and I don't buy it," Fitzgerald said. "It used to be a thing people did, and it might have been the case with, say, Windows 2000, but not now."