![]() They include all versions of Microsoft Office prior to 2003, all versions of Microsoft Money prior to 2006, versions of Microsoft Works prior to 8 and versions of SQL Server prior to 2005.Ī Microsoft spokeswoman said that though it doesn't plan to formally test its older products for Vista-compatibility, most of them should work. ![]() But many of its applications that are still popular on Windows XP have not yet been patched for Vista nor officially certified as running fine on Vista. By far, the company has the most applications of any vendor on its own list of verified Vista applications, with 105. But it acknowledges that errors will likely still occur. Instead, Intuit suggests that users try running their existing software under Vista's compatibility mode, which can emulate older flavors of Windows. Intuit has no plans to correct problems in older versions of its software, nor offer free support to users of those older versions. Meanwhile, Intuit is only guaranteeing that 2007 versions of its popular Quicken and QuickBooks finance software - both released last fall - will work on Vista. Vista's compatibility mode imperfect, admits one vendor Users of utility products that don't require a subscription, such as Norton Ghost and Norton Save & Restore, will have to purchase the next version to get Vista compatibility. ![]() Symantec is only releasing free Vista patches for the latest versions of products such as Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton Confidential, which are only available to current subscribers. Some products that Adobe was already planning to discontinue, such as PageMaker and Macromedia FreeHand, won't be ported to Vista at all.Īdobe declined to comment, saying it will make another announcement in several months. Instead, it plans to issue new Vista-compatible upgrades within the next six months that will cost between $100 and $200 for an upgrade, with full versions costing more. It also plans to release free updates to Acrobat 8 and Reader 8 by the middle of the year.īut Adobe also has no plans to update existing versions of its pricey professional and prosumer products, such as Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and After Effects for Vista. The company has released free Vista updates for some of its lower-priced consumer products, such as Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. Another half runs, but with some known issues (download PDF). About a third of Adobe's software doesn't run on Vista today. Meanwhile, a new graphics infrastructure such as the DirectX 10 API and Windows Presentation Foundation are creating headaches for game and multimedia vendors. Most affected: security and multimedia softwareĮnhancements to Vista's security and installation process are causing extra work for security and disk utility vendors. That's unlikely to be the view shared by vendors actually bearing the cost of developing, testing and supporting their software on different platforms. In general, porting software from XP to Vista will require developers to "make lots of little changes," rather than massive rewrites, he said. The move from XP and Vista is more incremental," said Scott Matsumoto, a principal consultant at software consulting firm Cigital Inc. "Going from Windows 95 and 98 to Windows 2000 and XP was a revolutionary shift. Some outside experts agree, pointing out that in the grand scheme of Windows' evolution, the shift from XP to Vista is relatively minor. She acknowledged, however, that few have been formally tested. Microsoft claims that there are already "thousands of applications" compatible with Vista, according to a spokeswoman. Move to a new platform too slowly, and you risk ending up like Lotus Software's 1-2-3, the dominant spreadsheet on DOS in the late 1980s that lost its lead to Microsoft Excel in part because it was belatedly ported to Windows.īut abandon an older platform too quickly, and you risk alienating loyal, long-term users. How software vendors handle transitions for operating systems has long been a delicate, high-stakes issue. Technical shift from XP to Vista seen as 'incremental' And that, according to analysts, could rebound on Microsoft as well as Windows software vendors by prompting users to hold off Vista upgrades or consider switching to another operating system altogether. Still, many customers who are happy with their existing software may look askance at what they consider less-than-subtle attempts to coerce them to upgrade.
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