Vista Minimums Announced

The new legalese from Microsoft came out today quoting the minimum specs for Windows Vista . I've got to admit that I'm not on the same page as most diggers , these numbers are far more acceptable than anything I imagined having seen the performance of Vista through several beta's now. The minimum Vista Requirements are almost in-line with the minimums to comfortably run Windows XP so the upgrade is still a possibility for most modern stuff considering that nearly anything bought in the last year or two has at least double that. Perhaps they'll need more ram and a dedicated video card but thats roughly $50-100 more and lets face it – in business they are not going to benefit from Aero to begin with:

Minimum Requirements (Vista-Capable PCs):

* 800 MHz Intel-compatible processor
* 512MB of RAM
* DirectX 9.0-Capable Graphics Processor
* 20GB HD

Recommended Requirements (Premium-Ready PCs):

* 1 GHz Intel-compatible processor
* 1GB RAM
* DirectX 9.0-Capable Graphics Processor, with 128MB graphics memory. (64MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels [no more than 1440×900]; 128MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels [no more than 1920×1200]; 256MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304,000 pixels [more than 1920×1200]).
* 40GB HD with at least 15GB "free space"
 

So what do you think? I'm hearing from partners world-wide that its the cost of the workstation OS that is impacting the sale of the server (SBS and W2K3) and in my conversations with some Microsoft PM's they didn't quite put it together that the mobile devices & gadgets sell SBS, not the other way around. Perhaps they'll put two and two together and make Vista more affordable for small business though the BK6-0002 like bundle? Ouch, I said bundle, now it will never be seen by anybody at Microsoft. 🙂 But in case it does, come on guys.. throw a bone to someone other than a thief …