New horizons with Vista
Vitaflo is one of Samarind’s many customers to take on board Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista.
Liverpool-based Vitaflo manufactures food products for people with medical conditions such as metabolic disorders. When Vista was launched earlier this year, Vitaflo was undergoing a period of growth, with many people joining the company who needed new computers.
IT manager Vishal Koowaroo had a decision to make: to stick with Windows XP or to start introducing Vista. To help him make up his mind, he attended one of Samarind’s popular Vista open days held over the summer to introduce the new system to their customers.
‘The Vista day proved very helpful,’ said Vishal. ‘Samarind’s team guided me through the new system, introducing me to the improved features and letting me have some hand-on experience with it, too. I liked what I saw and I trust Samarind’s judgement absolutely. Vitaflo has employed Samarind for the four years I have been IT manager and for many years before that.
‘So, I said go head – let’s give it a go!’
Any reservations since?
‘No, not at all,’ Vishal confirms. ‘Samarind have installed Vista Business for us and it’s proved a great operating system. It looks different structurally but its functionality is basically the same as the previous Microsoft tools, so there’s no need to retrain on it. It looks great, actually, with much more potential for jazzing up your desktop!’
Vista is more than just a pretty face, however
‘There are lots of enhancements,’ Vishal points out. ‘Improved security is one of the major pluses, especially for businesses. For example, it will always throw up message boxes to make sure you approve any changes to your system, such as new software installations, and it will warn you if programs are trying to install themselves.
‘I’ve also found it much quicker and easier to search for files on Vista. There are probably other improvements, too, that I haven’t come across in my working day yet.’
So, what would Vishal say to any business having reservations about upgrading to Vista?
‘I’d say go for it,’ he says. ‘I’m happy to recommend Vista Business. I know there have been issues with the compatibility of third party software – Samarind helped us sort out the drivers on our printers, for example – but that happens when any new system is introduced.
‘Samarind’s judgement on Vista has proved correct. From now on, every new computer introduced at Vitaflo will have Vista Business installed on it.’