Finally getting around to deploying Vista or SP1? Now that most of the smoke is starting to clear after the release of SP1, many enterprises are taking a second look before moving forward. Cutting through the numerous updates and additions in SP1, here are a few final items you may want to review before taking the dive, while taking a looking at the business case for deploying Vista.
First, an overview of the changes that come with Vista SP1. The update delivers a bounty of performance improvements. Many facets of the operating system have been improved in some form or another - but beware, chances are you won't see a performance increase right away. In fact, you'll likely see just the opposite. The update to SP1 will reset many of the optimizations that Vista makes to tailors itself to user habits. Don't expect Windows SuperFetch™ to be working in your favor until some time has passed. Compounding the problem, the hefty update will bring with it a full serving of metadata fragmentation. Expect increased calls to the help desk from your Vista clients (especially laptop users) regarding poor performance after the update. For those with PerfectDisk deployed, take advantage of the Command Center and deploy a one time schedule for a boot time defrag to clean up the metadata fragmentation and smoothen the transition.
The good news is that over time, Vista will perform better than before.
On another note, pre-SP1, a bug in MMCSS causes poor network performance. While streaming multimedia, the service would give media players (such as Windows Media Player) resource priority on the network, while severely crippling other traffic - like network traffic. What's worse, the problem is especially troublesome on the machines you've provided with the fastest connections - the ones with gigabit connections.
Falling short of a solution that automatically detects how it should throttle network priority, Microsoft has implemented a partial solution in the form of a modifiable registry value that will adjust the priority.
Drill into your registry for this key:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\NetworkThrottlingIndex
The default value is an index of 10. (A value of 0 is equal to 10) The problem with this half- hearted solution is that finding the best value for a particular system can be a matter of trial and error. Thankfully, the amount of users affected by this is sure to be low for most environments, but for those of you with multimedia centric divisions, you will definitely want to be aware of this issue.
Another item of note is the improved, but still poor performance when copying files (Compared to Windows XP) - particularly over network shares. Neil Randall, writing for PC Magazine, sums up what to expect rather nicely:
"What Microsoft does publicize is an improvement in the speed of copying files-both between local drives and from local drives to network shares-as well as the speed in extracting files from compressed folders. My results show an improvement, but nothing to get excited about, unless you do such copying frequently and with large files and folders. This kind of improvement is vastly more important in the enterprise sector, of course (where pushing files to network shares goes on all the time) than for individual users.
Still, extracting from compressed folders on my machine showed an improvement of roughly 25 to 30 percent, while copying large folders (12GB was the largest I tried) demonstrated speed increases of about 20 percent. For local folder transfers, Vista still isn't up to the speed of Windows XP running SP2, although according to my informal observations, it's within 10 percent. On my machines, the updated OS extracted from compressed folders almost twice as quickly as XP, but then again, unless you regularly work with gigabyte-size compressed folders, you're unlikely to notice a practical difference."
Another item of note is the improved "reliability of systems that were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista" - this is critical, and comes after much scorn concerning the instability of systems that were previously upgraded. It's important to note that this improvement isn't a perfect solution. It's no wonder so many organizations have held off on upgrading to Vista - the logistics involved in migrating users over to fresh installs is a daunting task for many organizations.
With that in mind, what about Windows XP Service Pack 3? Should it be considered as an alternative to upgrades? Perhaps it could serve as a temporary stop gap solution? Certainly not, according to Microsoft:
"The goals of Windows XP SP3 are to:
- Provide a new baseline for customers still deploying Windows XP, to help them avoid the inconvenience of applying individual updates.
- Fill gaps in the updates users might have missed by declining individual updates when using Automatic Updates, and to deliver updates not made available through Windows Update."
So why should you upgrade to Vista? What are the incentives? What is the business case for deploying Windows Vista?
And that is exactly what Microsoft COO, Kevin Turner has tried to answer for all of us in this white paper, entitled: The Business Case for Windows Vista
What is at the core of the argument? Microsoft tries to make a good case for the upgrade, citing improved security, reduced overhead, and by extension, cost reductions. The white paper contains graphs and quotes from global marketing giant IDC regarding an average of $236 of annual saving per PC running Windows Vista.
The paper also discusses how Vista, as a platform, can help organizations transition their IT departments from Cost Centers to Strategist company assets. It all sounds very nice, and the improved security in Vista is very real. But if you are feeling that there's some kind of a big purple elephant standing in the middle of the room while reading Mr. Turner's paper, you aren't alone, and there's a simple reason why. There's only one real reason that you should deploy, or plan to deploy Windows Vista in the near future.
You have no other choice.
Of course, we can imagine such a statement might be unpopular, but there is certainly a basis for making it. Benjiman Gray, a respected analyst for Forrester Research, Inc., recently published his own version of Mr. Turner's paper which he similarly titles: Building the Business Case for Windows Vista
This report will run you $279, but to save you a bit of cash I'll just ask you to thank Preston Gralla, contributing editor for ComputerWorld.com. He's outlined the high points of Benjamin Gray's paper and we pass them along for you here. These may be unpopular with many individuals and organizations as a whole, but there is an unavoidable truth to them that we feel cannot be ignored.
"Reason #1: For large businesses, there's no viable alternative.
The report notes that "Microsoft operating systems are powering 99% of North American and European enterprise PCs and 97% of small- to medium-size business (SMB) PCs." In other words, businesses use Windows. In a previous blog, I've detailed why Forrester says the Mac isn't an alternative. The report goes on to say that Service Pack 1 has been spurring companies towards Vista.
Reason #2: Businesses need to stay current with Microsoft and ISV support.
Microsoft has already ended extended support for Windows 2000, and will end it for XP in April of 2009. ISVs (software makers) will certainly follow suit with any applications written for those operating systems. The report notes that it's not safe or practical for an enterprise to stay with an operating system that lacks adequate support.
Reason #3: There's a lot of uncertainty around Windows XP availability after June.
The report notes that it's not at all clear that big PC makers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo will make XP available on their PCs after June 30 of this year. That means that enterprises that haven't yet switched to Vista after that date may be forced to buy Vista machines, and then downgrade them to XP. Then, in the future, if they want to upgrade to Vista, they'll have to buy new Vista licenses. Forrester says it's best to avoid the mess and upgrade to Vista.
Reason #4: There's even more uncertainty around Windows 7.
Windows 7, including its features and release date, is now little more than a promise. And as we all know from past experience, believing promises when it comes to release dates and features is a big mistake. So waiting for Windows 7 is not a good idea.
Reason #5: Windows Vista's feature/function improvements should make ongoing operations easier.
The report notes that improvements in security, reliability, and the user experience are all good reasons for enterprises to switch to Vista. It claims that under Vista, enterprises have better control over what software users can install, and that IT staffs will see far fewer help desk calls over time with Vista."
With support for Windows XP ending in little over a year, and vendors putting an end to its distribution, the choice is being made for you.
Despite all the negativity surrounding the new OS, we definitely feel that Vista is laying the ground work for the future, and that this transition, while hard to swallow for many, is a necessary step towards progress.
- Provides security software vendors a more secure way to communicate with Windows Security Center.
- Includes application programming interfaces (APIs) by which third-party security and malicious software detection applications can work with kernel patch protection on x64 versions of Windows Vista. These APIs help ISVs develop software that extends the functionality of the Windows kernel on x64 computers without disabling or weakening the protection offered by kernel patch protection.
- Improves the security of running RemoteApp programs and desktops by allowing Remote Desktop
- Protocol (RDP) files to be signed. Customers can differentiate user experiences based on publisher identity.
- Adds an Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to the list of available PRNGs in Windows Vista.
- Enhances BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) to offer an additional multifactor authentication method that combines a key protected by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB storage device and a user-generated personal identification number (PIN).
Reliability Fixes
- Improved reliability and compatibility of Windows Vista when used with newer graphics cards in several specific scenarios and configurations.
- Improved reliability when working with external displays on a laptop.
- Improved Windows Vista reliability in networking configuration scenarios.
- Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
- Increased compatibility with many printer drivers.
- Increased reliability and performance of Windows Vista when entering sleep and resuming from sleep.
Performance Improvements
- Improves the speed of copying and extracting files.
- Improves the time to become active from Hibernate and Resume modes.
- Improves the performance of domain-joined PCs when operating off the domain; in the current release version of Windows Vista, users would experience long delays when opening the File dialog box.
- Improves performance of Windows Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista, reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing.
- Improves battery life by reducing CPU utilization by not redrawing the screen as frequently, on certain computers.
- Improves the logon experience by removing the occasional 10-second delay between pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL and the password prompt displaying.
- Addresses an issue in the current version of Windows Vista that makes browsing network file shares consume significant bandwidth and not perform as fast as expected.
Administration Experience Changes
- BitLocker Drive Encryption encrypts extra local volumes. For example, instead of encrypting only drive C, customers can also encrypt drive D, E, and so on.
- Addresses problems with printing to local printers from a Windows Terminal Services session.
- The Network Diagnostics tool will help customers solve the most common file sharing problems, in addition to the basic problems that it already diagnoses.
- Administrators can control the volumes on which to run Disk Defragmenter.
- The service pack will uninstall the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and GPEdit.msc will edit local Group Policy by default. In the SP1 timeframe, administrators can download an out-of-band release that will give them the ability to add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or individual settings and search for specific settings.
Support for Emerging Hardware and Standards
- In the future, flash memory storage and consumer devices will use the exFAT file system. Windows Vista SP1 adds support for this file system to Windows Vista.
- The service pack will include support for Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA), which will be on compliant SD host controllers soon, to improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization.
- x64 PCs can boot using the EFI. Windows Vista currently supports network boot by using Windows Deployment Services for x86, a PC's basic input/output system (BIOS) for x64 PCs, and EFI for IA-64 PCs. Windows Vista SP1 will add support for network boot by using x64 EFI.
- The service pack will add support for Direct3D 10.1, adding application programming interfaces (APIs) and features that enable 3-D applications, so game developers can better take advantage of a new generation of Direct3D graphics hardware.
- The Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) is a remote access tunneling protocol that will be part of the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) platform. This protocol helps provide full-network virtual private network (VPN) remote access connections without challenges that other protocols face when traversing NATs, Web proxies, and firewalls. Windows Vista SP1 will include support for SSTP.
Miscellaneous Improvements
- Adds support for Direct3DŽ 10.1, an update to Direct3D 10 that extends the API to support new hardware features, enabling 3D application and game developers to make more complete and efficient use of the upcoming generations of graphics hardware.
- Addresses issues many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Windows Vista, as reported by Windows Error Reporting. These include issues relating to Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player, and a number of drivers included with Windows Vista.
- An improved SRT (Startup Repair Tool), which is part of the Windows Recovery environment (WinRE), can now fix PCs unbootable due to certain missing OS files.
- Adds full support for the latest IEEE draft of 802.11n wireless networking.
- Improves OS deployment by enabling 64-bit versions of Windows Vista to be installed from a 32-bit OS. This will allow IT professionals to maintain just a single WinPE image.
- Improves patch deployment by retrying failed updates in cases where multiple updates are pending and the failure of one update causes other updates to fail as well.
- Enables reliable OS installation by optimizing OS installers so that they are run only when required during patch installation. Fewer installers operating results in fewer points of potential failure during installation, which leads to more robust and reliable installation.
- Improves overall install time for updates by optimizing the query for installed OS updates.
- Improved instrumentation allows additional data to be sent to Microsoft via the CEIP (Customer Experience Improvement Program) when enabled. This telemetry data led to the identification of numerous issues that are addressed in SP1 and resulted in improvement in the reliability of OS servicing.
- SP1 reduces the number of UAC (User Account Control) prompts from 4 to 1 when creating or renaming a folder at a protected location.
- Improvements in the Licensing User Interface and User Experience including more details in the help about activation and what happens if user does not activate; more detailed and descriptive dialog text; raw error codes replaced with easily comprehensible text.
- While not reflected in the initial release candidate this week, we will also be making changes effective with SP1 in how we differentiate the experience customers have using non-genuine versions of our software. This is based on feedback we heard from volume license customers in particular as part of our Windows Genuine Advantage program.
- Improves the performance of browsing network file shares by consuming less bandwidth.
- Improves power consumption and battery life by addressing an issue that causes a hard disk to continue spinning when it should spin down, in certain circumstances.
- Improves the speed of adding and extracting files to and from a compressed (zipped) folder.
- Significantly improves the speed of moving a directory with many files underneath.
- Improves performance while copying files using BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service).
- Improves performance over Windows Vista's current performance across the following scenarios1:
- 25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine
- 45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
- 50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
Improves the time to read large images by approximately 50%.
Improves IE performance on certain Jscript intensive websites, bringing performance in line with previous IE releases.
Improves responsiveness when doing many kinds of file or media manipulations. For example, with Windows Vista today, copying files after deleting a different set of files can make the copy operation take longer than needed. In SP1, the file copy time is the same as if no files were initially deleted.
Addresses a problem that caused a delay of up to 5 minutes after boot with specific ReadyDrive capable hard drives.
Improves the effectiveness of a Windows ReadyBoost™ device in reducing the time to resume from standby and hibernate by increasing the amount of data stored in the ReadyBoost device that can be used during a resume cycle.
Includes improvements to Windows Superfetch™ that help to further improve resume times, in many environments.
In specific scenarios, SP1 reduces the shutdown time by a few seconds by improving the Windows Vista utility designed to sync a mobile device.
Improves the time to resume from standby for a certain class of USB Hubs by approximately 18%.
Improves network connection scenarios by updating the logic that auto selects which network interface to use (e.g., should a laptop use wireless or wired networking when both are available).
Reduces the time it takes to return to the user's session when using the Photo screensaver, making it comparable to other screensavers.
Removes the delay that sometimes occurs when a user unlocks their PC.
Improves overall media performance by reducing many glitches.
Windows Vista SP1 includes a new compression algorithm for the RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) that helps reduce network bandwidth required to send bitmaps or images via RDP. The compression, which can be selected by administrators via Group Policy settings, is transparent to all RDP traffic, and typically reduces the size of the RDP stream by as much as 25-60%, based on preliminary test results.
There's a lot to consider, study and review, but sooner or later, Vista is likely in your future.
Sources:
Welcome to another edition of Optimize Now.
