There was more than a little bit of brouhaha surrounding the release of Windows Vista on the subject of application compatibility. What will User Account Control break? What problems will crop up as your clients pain themselves to make applications work under the new graphics regime Aero Glass? What hidden Vista compatibility gremlins will bite users as their organizations move to the new Microsoft operating system release?
There were some problems and some programs still today do not function with Vista -- Intuit's Quickbooks 2006 comes to mind. But for the most part, the applications still having trouble working with the new operating system are obsolesced by their manufacturers. Intuit says it has no plans to make Quickbooks 2006 work with Vista and recommends upgrading to the latest version for a supported fix. Other applications break because they are poorly programmed and their developers simply won't fix them.
No matter what, application compatibility with Vista over the last few months has certainly improved. Consider the following:
1. The list of incompatible applications, or applications that are "troubled" in the new environment, grows smaller day by day and there are few if any mainstream applications left that don't work.
2. Microsoft continues to release updates monthly to correct problems. These have solved the majority of outstanding issues for most users. For example, see Microsoft's ongoing Vista compatibility update.
The bottom line is that, with few exceptions, Vista stands ready to serve your clients' applications. Vista will likely not break their applications. All systems go!
About the author: Jonathan Hassell is an author, consultant and speaker residing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jonathan's books include RADIUS, Learning Windows Server 2003, Hardening Windows and most recently Windows Vista: Beyond the Manual. His work is seen regularly in popular periodicals such as Windows IT Pro Magazine, SecurityFocus, PC Pro and Microsoft TechNet Magazine. He speaks around the world on topics including Windows administration, networking and security. Ask Jon your Windows questions today.
