Dell urges caution on upgrading to Vista

Dell is warning businesses to allow plenty of time for testing if they are considering migrating from XP to Vista.

Although the company is still advising businesses to go ahead with migration and not wait for Microsoft to release its first service pack, it says that migration presents significant challenges and training will be needed.

In an unusual step for a hardware vendor, Dell is also warning companies that they may need to buy additional hardware, as there could be compatibility issues with older hardware and software that they could already be deployed.

Dell warns that companies should consider the number of images they plan to install. Vista requires a 2GB image per user which could soon add up to a significant amount of lost storage space.

Previously Microsoft has suggested that a 1GB image, required by XP, was also fine for Vista, but Dell believes that image sizes of 2GB and larger will be likely.

Microsoft passed the 40 million mark for sales of Vista in June 2007. However, sales have mostly been to consumers, with businesses slower to upgrade.