Microsoft chairman Bill Gates presented his vision of
IT's future to a gathering of IT directors from the British
Computer Society's Elite group in late October and then brought
them down to earth by plugging the next versions of Windows and
Office.
Security will drive a new upgrade cycle to Office 12 and Windows
Vista, which are due out next year, Gates said.
"Because of the security features in these new releases, it
makes a lot of sense to upgrade to these new versions. That reason
alone will drive a lot of upgrades." He said next year's releases
would also resolve many compatibility issues that companies
face.
"Today, a lot of new hardware comes in [to businesses] and gets
downgraded to the old operating system because there is a
compatibility issue about having the new version co-exist with the
old. It makes people concerned, so they want to go for
uniformity."
With security permanently high on the IT director's agenda,
Gates' comments caused a mixed reaction among the audience. Jean
Morgan, change governance manager at Barclays Bank, said she was
reassured by Microsoft's commitment to security.
Douglas Ball, IT director at the Prescription Pricing Authority,
said Gates did not fully answer how small companies can cope with
the constant drive to upgrade.
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Licensees only
Microsoft has earmarked some of the new security and
compatibility features in the forthcoming Windows Vista exclusively
for the enterprise version of the operating system. This version of
the software is only due to be made available under the company's
controversial Software Assurance licensing scheme.