Microsoft announced another deadline for conversion from
Windows XP to Windows Vista, that being June 30th, 2008. Already,
cracks have formed once again in the supplier network as major players IBM,
Lenovo & Dell have decided to continue to offer Windows XP under the
Windows Vista Downgrade program.
Simply put, this allows users of Vista Business &
Ultimate editions to downgrade, if they prefer, to Windows XP Professional
Edition. This offer will not be made for Windows Home Edition so new home users
may be stuck with Windows Vista after June 30th, 2008.
Windows Vista continues to be the subject of a lot of
ridicule, not only in Apple Macintosh ads, but across businesses in general.
Most businesses have opted to bypass this version of Windows in favour of the
next version, code named Windows 7. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft
bounces back from this fiasco.
Under the current downgrade plan Microsoft counts each
Windows XP installation as a Windows Vista installation so their sales numbers
still seem good. In the real world more and more people seem to be making the
switch to Apple, which for a home computer makes a degree of sense. Most home computers do a little word
processing, browse the internet and perform a variety of multi-media tasks. The
Apple can perform all of these things with better overall reliability than a
PC.
The Apple has even become something of a status symbol
at colleges and universities where Apple Laptops now outsell the less expensive
PC Laptops regardless of whether they come with XP or
Apple hardware and operating systems are all produced by
the same company, which results in better quality control. The operating system
is more closed so that only larger companies can write software for the Apple.
This also means that Viruses, Spyware and such have a harder time invading the
insides of an Apple computer.
On the other hand the more open PC market has led to
lower prices. A PC Laptop or Desktop can be purchased for as little as $500 as
compared to $1300 for the lowest priced Apple. There is also a far greater
range of software written for PC’s, both good and bad, which is the major
reason that most businesses continue to use them for Accounting and most
business related tasks.
Should Microsoft continue their quest for glitz over
substance, then it will be interesting to see whether more businesses
eventually move over to Apple as well.
MICROSOFT
ACCOUNTING PRODUCTS
Microsoft
has purchased several Accounting Programs in recent years and blended them into
a product line know as Microsoft Dynamics. The individual products have been
given a facelift and now all somewhat resemble Outlook 2003 which was the
technology base on which the user interface was built.
This
has some distinct advantages in that the operation of each of their products is
very similar. Users that are already familiar with Microsoft Office already
have many of the skills necessary to operate the software. Each individual
product has different strengths and abilities. Some are well suited to
Distribution Companies, while others are better in the Manufacturing or in
Service oriented businesses.
Since
these products now share technology with Microsoft Office, the interface from
the Accounting System to Word, Excel or Outlook is fairly smooth. You can
select a report and pick Excel as the output format. Or you can print an
invoice, selecting e-mail as the delivery method for the customer. All of these
features and interfaces make a variety of tasks easier.
Since
these products are backed by Microsoft you can be relatively sure that they are
financially stable which has not been the case with many other Accounting
Systems. Many good systems have fallen by the wayside over the years due to
financial problems.
This
association with Microsoft makes a variety of technologies available but there
are some potential drawbacks which may ultimately affect the long term cost of
these Accounting Programs. With programs this sophisticated it is pretty much a
given that you will be on an annual update program. To avoid supporting
multiple versions, Microsoft will likely try to maintain a single stable
version of each product.
This
potentially becomes a problem whenever Microsoft releases a new version of
Windows or Microsoft Office. With the focus on profit and limiting the
lifetimes of products to about 5 years you may find that every few years you
will need to make a semi-major investment upgrading Microsoft Windows or
Microsoft Office versions to maintain compatibility.
Microsoft
hopes to integrate all of this into an annual fee per computer which will keep
all users on the same version of all of their products. While this is likely a
worthwhile goal, recent problems with Windows Vista have highlighted the risk
of living on the Bleeding Edge of Technology. It will be interesting to see how
well this strategy works over the next few years.