Is anyone using Vista?

[Benzini00]

Hi all,

In July 2007 after 4 months of testing, packaging software and creating new GPO's we deployed Vista Enterprise and Office 2007 to around 200 desktops using Windows 2003 Server, KMS, WDS and BDD.

We transitioned from Windows 2000 & Office 2000, there were a few small issues but nothing that we couldn't rectify with a macro, script or registry tweak. We opted for a PXE Boot 'lite touch' installation, we may move towards a 'zero touch' in the future.

All in all it was a smooth deployment, user acceptance has been high with many users not even being phased by the new look and feel of Vista & Office 2007, something we flagged up as a potential risk in the planning stages.

A few weeks after deployment, having had very little feedback or helpdesk calls, we started to approach users to find out how they were getting on, pretty much every user looked at us with a puzzled expression and replied 'fine, why?' or 'ok thanks'

If anyone wants to know anything specific about our deployment I'd be happy to post replies here ...

Cheers

Ben

[Dos_Box]

Therein lies the rub. You moved from Windows 2000. Most of us here are on XP, and Vista so far offers nothing that we would even consider worth the effort. Even WDS is far more convoluted than RIS, and even WDS running natively removes the ease of use the RIS could deploy an OS.

[Benzini00]

Hi Dos_Box,

We kept legacy RIS functionality in our WDS as this was how we deployed W2K and we were still deploying it during the planning and implementation of Vista, but to be honest with you I dont miss RIS or RipRep, I did at first but now I've got use to the extra functionality of WDS & ImageX and the flexibility of the images it creates I find ImageX saves alot of time during the build process.

I agree with your comment that the transtition from XP to Vista isn't that attractive though! ...

Cheers

Ben

[ittech]

Not going to touch vista for a while yet!

Our network is about stability and speed. I don't want to compromise that for the sake of being a version junkie.

[jkuzo]

We have been testing Vista out on about 200 computer this year with very limited problems which have been resolved quickly. Most teachers and students like Vista more than XP and without a doubt like Office 07 more than 03. Many people dismiss Vista talking about incompatibility, but I have found software is more compatible with Vista than XP. You may have to change to compatibility mode on the installer, but after that the apps run flawlessly. We will be deploying Vista to to 3000 computers this summer and already have a 08 server in place. If you put in the work to learn about deployment with Vista its not that bad. Many school districts would rather dismiss it without fully evaluating it or reading rumors. If you have the proper knowledge in your staff its a fairly seamless transfer. It should come down to your students experience on the newest technology and not down to the IT staffs lack of wanting to learn something new. We use Altiris Deployment Server for all our deployments with "zero touch".

[ittech]

Originally Posted by jkuzo

We have been testing Vista out on about 200 computer this year with very limited problems which have been resolved quickly. Most teachers and students like Vista more than XP and without a doubt like Office 07 more than 03. Many people dismiss Vista talking about incompatibility, but I have found software is more compatible with Vista than XP. You may have to change to compatibility mode on the installer, but after that the apps run flawlessly. We will be deploying Vista to to 3000 computers this summer and already have a 08 server in place. If you put in the work to learn about deployment with Vista its not that bad. Many school districts would rather dismiss it without fully evaluating it or reading rumors. If you have the proper knowledge in your staff its a fairly seamless transfer. It should come down to your students experience on the newest technology and not down to the IT staffs lack of wanting to learn something new. We use Altiris Deployment Server for all our deployments with "zero touch".

So what's better about vista over XP? I guess what I'm asking is what is your motivation for doing the upgrade so early in the release cycle.

I have yet to see a case other than bitlocker, glass windows and "its the future" arguments for its introduction.

[NickJones]

Originally Posted by ittech

So what's better about vista over XP? I guess what I'm asking is what is your motivation for doing the upgrade so early in the release cycle.

I have yet to see a case other than bitlocker, glass windows and "its the future" arguments for its introduction.

The ability to put tags on files is another plus point, as is the more friendly way of transferring files, e.g. merging two folders with the same name, offering a choice of actions when duplicate filenames are found, and so on. Hardly reasons to migrate, but they are nice features.

My Vista computers draw less power too - not sure if that is a Vista/XP question or just newer hardware though.

[jkuzo]

Our main drive behind deploying this summer is we are on a four year computer refresh and this summer is when all teacher laptops are replaced. If we don't make the move now, it will be too difficult to make the move in the next four years since we will have to work with each teacher to image their laptops. Now that I'm working with Vista for over a year, when I have to work on an XP computer it just feels dated.

[torledo]

@jkuzo, benzini

thanks for sharing your experiences - very interesting reading.

Ben, you guys transitioned to Vista quite early on, did moving pre-SP1 mean that your user base experienced the slow/inconsistent networking copying associated with vista....and were you also on a hardware refresh cycle like jkuzo ?

I think jkuzo you hit the nail on the head about IT teams retinence to learn and tacke Vista depoyment....people on here are nothing if not willing and able about trialling new things, but because of all the other duties we have to undertake it does feel a bit like 'here we go again' when it comes to a new os and new depoyment tools techniques. One mans progress is another mans reinventing the wheel.

I agree that xp ooks tired...imo very tired. And while an OS is primarily about being productive, with hardware refreshes over the next couple of years vista may well be the more suitable choice.

[BlogRat]

How did you get Vista to work with SIMS? i'm having a few problems..............

[ICT_GUY]

Going to vista would be a great excuse for dumping all our old software, say around 70% of it, also I guess our computer suite would have to be upgraded. 4.4gig celerons with 512 ram is not going to give people the vista experience.

Server 2008 all round though, and probably the 64bit versions at that.

[PeterW]

My Vista computers draw less power too - not sure if that is a Vista/XP question or just newer hardware though.

This is most likley down to the newer hardware.

[NickJones]

Originally Posted by BlogRat

How did you get Vista to work with SIMS? i'm having a few problems..............

I just installed it, and there it was (this is with a domain admin account, though). What issues are you having?

[BlogRat]

Every time we run SIMS it goes through a full upgrade install including asking the user if they wish to continue, do you trust this program etc, etc… it’s a bit of a pain but once it’s open it seems OK, apart from a dll error when I try to run system manager.

[steve_nfi]

Definitely not going down the Vista route. Perhaps you should explain to the powers that be how unstable it is (a bit more forcefully if you have already tried).