Vista a tough sell to business

Microsoft's forthcoming Vista operating system will be a tough sell to Australian businesses, despite its potential to lift media centre and PC sales in the retail market, according to resellers.

Vista will hit the business market in November and the consumer market in January.

Alan Green, owner of The Disc Shop, said the Vista range of software would be difficult to sell to business users.

“[The] majority of businesses are happy to stick with the software they have and aren’t willing to drop it because of a new product release,” Green said.

However, he said the Queensland-based retailer’s consumers – interested in building their own machines – will be more than happy to replace the more labour-intensive XP product. “If these companies are running old PCs then they have to look at the business value in adopting Microsoft’s Vista and changing PCs as well,” he said.

Resellers would sell three different Vista packages: an entry level product, dubbed Windows Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium at the next level, and Windows Ultimate aimed at high level users.

Brad Chenoweth, CEO of local service support provider Gizmo, believes the complex nature of the media centre will change with Microsoft’s forthcoming Vista release. “The software will drive the media centre box. With real promotion and marketing this box will become reality,” he said.

Chris Mitchell, marketing manager Scorpion Technology, said the promotional products for Vista make the software suite look “pretty decent”.

He said the Victorian-based retailer will also be pushing the software out with media centre products and believes the Vista product will take the media centre player into homes.

However, PC users will have to upgrade their hardware to experience the visual benefits of Vista. “The Vista software requires a 3D video card and then it makes the PC specs quite visually stunning,” said Mitchell.