Vista won't force hardware upgrades

By Maggie Holland

Posted on 30 Nov 2006 at 17:17

Businesses won't be forced into accelerating their normal hardware upgrade cycles or shell out on the latest equipment in order to take advantage of Windows Vista, according to Microsoft's UK head.

'Vista hardware requirements are not that dissimilar to those of XP,' said Gordon Frazer, managing director for Microsoft UK, at the combined launch of Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 this afternoon.

'And there are a number of different experiences people can have with Vista. Aero, for example, requires very powerful graphical capabilities. But any PC bought in the last 18-24 months should certainly be capable of running Vista, and possibly even those bought earlier.'

'That being said we are seeing great investments being made in [the latest] hardware and Vista is designed to address all of those hardware innovations,' Frazer added at the launch held at the new Emirates Stadium, home to Arsenal Football Club, which is also a keen advocator of the latest additions to the Microsoft family.

Frazer then chose to focus on the consumer-focused investment protection, hardware-wise, that Microsoft is offering through its Express Upgrade Programme.

The programme ensures that any consumers buying a copy of Vista before it is launched at the end of January can get their hands on a free copy once the operating system hits the shops.