The sales numbers have come in from Windows Vista, and they are not good. Despite Microsoft's spin on Vista sales, it is not the blockbuster product it was touted to be, whether in sales or capabilities. That has left many tech and business pundits to ponder why: Was the previous version XP that good that there is no reason to switch? Is Vista that bad? Or is the technology and industry shifting to reduce its relevance?

Here is a question to ponder in the New Year: Is the operating system as important as it once was?  And will it continue to be so in the future?  In fact, it could be argued that operating systems have diminished in the public's psyche while the web browser has ascended. Most people use online e-mail applications like GMail and Yahoo! Mail, while headline grabbing social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace exist only online. Applications once only found on PCs have been migrating to handhelds -- like e-mail. While Apple's iPhone stole the spotlight from Vista in 2007, business people have been e-mailing like crazy on Blackberries while Gen Y is all thumbs sending billions of SMS messages. Then there is the success of Salesforce.com and the many applications hosted over the Internet, whose only interface is the web browser.

There are more reasons why the days of powerful, high profile operating systems may be on the wane. Basic staples of computing like word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations going online with Google Docs. If you are part of the 94% of Americans who have no idea what Google Docs is, you may still use Word or Excel remotely via Citrix over the Internet. New virtualization technologies allow that same hardware to run multiple operating systems, and different operating systems simultaneously. (This article was written in Google Docs on a Mac that has a virtual copy of Windows XP running on it.)

So will 2008 mark the decline of the operating system?  We will see.  Share your thoughts in the comments!

We have been off the blogging for a week, so if you were out over the long holiday weekend like we were, here is what you may have missed.

Windows Server 2008 Delayed too… 2008. Surprise! Microsoft has delayed the launch of a major operating system.However, this slip pushes back other Microsoft products, like its Viridian Hypervisor for server virtualization that is supposed to get them into the virtualization market in a big way. And as we all know, it means that much longer until the first service pack is released, which is when most people make the jump to a new operating system.

Speaking of Service Packs: Vista SP1 Coming Winter 2008. Rumors of its arrival have swirled for a few months, but Microsoft makes it official, hoping that it will drive sales of the troubled OS. Shortly after its release, Microsoft is expected to release Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.

…Speaking of the Virtualization Market.This EWeek article has a rundown of the latest developments in the industry where VMWare had a successful IPO and is flush with cash, Citrix bought XenSource, and Microsoft is still looking to make inroads.

The Next-Gen Web Application, in Five Easy Steps. AJAX, Web Services, Dynamic Data, Offline Availability and data flexibility are hallmarks of the next generation in web applications. Indeed, now is a time of great experimentation in web sites and web applications and each of these characteristics are in use today to varying degrees. Combine these with the next generation of mobile devices like Apple’s iPhone, and the Web will be where you work, no matter where you are.

We have been booked for a number of speaking engagements in the next few months, and it seems they all want to know about IT trends for law firms. We thought it would be fun to crowdsource our reader’s thoughts on some of the trends we see. This is what we are following:

Server Virtualization (also tied closely with disaster recovery). Virtualization technology has matured and makes real sense for firms of many sizes. Most important, it facilitates disaster recovery and business continuity efforts that many firms are implementing today.

Data-vaulting. The future of back-ups are online. Time to throw away those back-up tapes you forgot to swap anyway.

Managed IT services. Remote monitoring and management of IT for 24/7/365 coverage. Small firms get experience, expertise, and the complete package for maximum value for their IT budget, while larger firms can get preventive measures like daily server checks that would otherwise be neglected.

Online Services. Work is moving to the web. Many applications have already moved online like accounting, IP, and CRM, and more are coming. Meanwhile, newsfeeds (RSS) and search are revolutionizing information like e-mail revolutionized communication.

Outsourcing. The timeless sturm-und-drang of in-house vs. out-source extends to practically every corner of the firm, including litigation support, facilities, and even secretarial.

Paperless. Ah, the holy grail. The paperless office seems closer today than ever, but it means some drastic changes in workflow and a rethinking of your equipment and IT.

Vista/Office 2007. From the meat-and-potatoes department, the shift will eventually happen, although no one seems very excited about it.

Give us your feedback on the comments. How would you expand on our points? What are we missing?

Here is our Friday installment of what is being said on the Internet that administrators and IT pros at law and professional services firms should know.

Where did my Excel commands go? The transition to Office 2007’s new “fluid interface” is causing some consternation with many who have become accustomed to the keyboard shortcuts and menu commands in Excel 2003. Computerworld published this handy cheat sheet mapping the old locations for commands from Excel 2003 to 2007. For more on what has changed and what is new in Office 2007, check out our free online webinar “Compelling Enhancements in Office 2007” on August 15, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Businesses cautious on Vista upgrade. A new poll says that only 2 percent of businesses are running Vista, and only 9 percent more planning on upgrading in the next three months. Now, we know firms that just went to XP last year, so this wait-and-see attitude doesn’t surprise us. Some reasons cited include old hardware that won’t run Vista and training.

Contracts online, should lawyers be worried? Business 2.0 has an article on a Spanish company putting contracts online to cut out the lawyers. More than that, they are throwing in some value-added with their dashboard that has a timeline of negotiations, comments, and more. Inside Opinions sees the move as complementary rather than completely disruptive.

Census Bureau information to your newsreader. Following up on our post on great government web site mash-ups, Robert Ambrogi points out that the U.S. Census Bureau has RSS feeds and podcasts on a number of statistics like “Aging Population,” “Foreign-born Population,” and more.

For more stories filtered for administrators and IT pros in legal and professional services firms, get our supplemental newsfeed, available here through Google Reader.

First Service Pack for Windows Vista May Land Any Day Now. According to this article at Yahoo! Tech, Microsoft is rushing out the door Windows Vista’s first service pack to fix many nagging problems and hopefully bolster sales. Speeding up file copying and shutdown times are evidently the first order of business to put some shine on the OS that has met a tepid reception critically and commercially. Many firms and corporations having been waiting for this service pack before even contemplating upgrading to Vista, which is why Microsoft may have pushed it from their announced 2008 release date. Still, many patches can create more problems than they solve, so the advice remains the same: wait and see.

This Wednesday, June 27, 2007, SAGE and the Information Systems and Technology Section of the ALA Capital Chapter kick off  a series of presentations on the ins-and-outs of Microsoft’s Office 2007. The first meeting covers the basics about Office 2007: what is new, what has changed; and what it all means.

SAGE’s Director of Consulting, David Carns, will cut through the confusion over the many versions of the office suite, the “ribbon,”, the new file formats, and other changes for which your firm should prepare. This session sets the stage for more in-depth reviews of each application: Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint. The focus will be on preparing your staff and firm for the transition to Office 2007.

The session will be from Noon to 1:30 p.m. at the offices of Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP, located in downtown, Washington, DC at 2120 L St. NW - Suite 700. To register, please contact Kenny Mitchell at 202-383-3402.

No More XP on New Computers in 2008. News is filtering through blogosphere that Microsoft will end OEM sales of Windows XP come January 2008. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, as Microsoft is in the business of selling software. Developing it is just a step in the process. What it means to law and professional firms who tend to be behind the tech curve, is to start thinking about transitioning to Vista in the next couple of years. New equipment will only come with Vista, and soon licenses and then support will disappear. The X Factor in this equation is Exchange 12 and Office 2007, which take advantage of many Vista features.

Law.com Starts Its Quest. Google got into the legal research game in a tangential way with Patents and Trademarks search, now Law.com gets into the legal search arena with Quest (via Robert Ambrogi's Lawsites) Quest searches Law.com's own extensive network of web sites, publications, and blogs, and adds in a number of law firm web sites and other legal blogs.  If anything, it provides a more narrow scope to a search, but we will wait for the reviews to see if it has value for practitioners or just a way to bolster Law.com's advertising revenue.

Lessons from the Eye of the Storm. Since it's Friday the 13th, of course we come across a disaster recovery story. This article has some practical business continuity advice from law firms that have faced hurricanes in Miami. Their formula: a bunker(!), lots of laptops, and satellite office space for lawyers. Also on display is both sides of human nature, from managers instructed to call employees and ask them what they need in the wake of disaster, to clients who call to inquire about the condition of their documents without care for the attorneys or staff.

As we all gear up our mojo for another work week, here are a few places to check on the web that are actually work-related.

Holes in Vista’s Sandbox. From the “Devil is in the details” department, Vista’s new sandbox feature “Protected Mode” turns off in a number of instances leaving machines vulnerable to hacks like the recent animated cursor attack. Trusted Sites and turning off the highly annoying User Account Control are just two instances. Webware’s article highlights all the scenarios where Microsoft kicks the user out of the sandbox and leaves open some vulnerabilities.

Dreams of a Web Operating System. Web applications are becoming more a part of our daily work activities—think GMail and Outlook Web Access—leading many to dream of an operating system based entirely in a web browser. (Never mind that an OS is still required to run the browser). This CNet article has a rundown on current developments and the technical and market challenges any web-based OS faces. Either way, look for webware to force an evolution into the staid thinking about operating systems.

Blackberries To Keep up With Home, Too. While many spouses and significant others have bemoaned the corporate tether that is the Blackberry (and its brethren), a new poll suggests that the workers are revolting and using their company-provided smart phones and laptops for personal reasons as well. We guess that turnabout is fair-play.

With the official release of Windows Vista and Office 2007 today, here is our round-up of news you should know from around the Web:

• The new Office Ribbon user interface that debuts in Office 2007 will be heading to other MS Office applications such as Project and Visio.
• In case you like a lot of opinions, here is a round-up of all the Vista reviews.
• More details are emerging on the first Service Pack (SP1) for Vista, which will be security updates and hot fixes, but no improvements like the WinFS file system.
• Stories are already appearing on how to disable Vista's User Account Control (UAC). They don’t mention the bad things that will happen if users do this, just lots of fuss about how annoying UAC is.

And now for something completely different…

An effective search is all about using the right keywords. This article focuses on e-discovery but the great searching strategies—frm knowing your synonyms to checking for misspellings—will work in any search environment.

Although Washington, DC usually shuts down around the holidays, we're unusually busy around here at SAGE. We have been a little light on posts, but the effort will pick up into the New Year. In the meantime, here is what is happening out there on the web:

• Does your head spin trying to keep up with all the Electronic Document Discovery (EDD) tools out there? Us too. Here is a handy little round-up.
• Still want to learn more about Windows Vista.  Wired brings you a screenshot gallery with commentary.
• NY Times tech reviewer David Pogue has provided his insight into Vista with this review.
• If you are still confused about the different versions of Vista, ExtremeTech posted this handy chart to help.
• Tired of meaningless jargon and "action words" thrown around to solve a problem, Kathy Sierra has some good advice on how to be better at anything. Hint, stop using the jargon to look smart.

As always, these links can be found at del.icio.us at our "sagesol" network account. Add "sagesol" to your del.icio.us network and share your links on technology management with us!

Today brings a number of thoughtful blog posts from around the Matrix. Each probably deserves some commentary—but since we can’t decide which—today we will just point you to them. Hint: Look for these topics in upcoming posts.

People Search for Yahoo using Google. Many users don’t know the difference between the browser address bar and the Google search box, so they get to Yahoo by typing it in Google’s search box and clicking on a result. This is emblematic of IT’s inattention to users work habits and failure to guide and instruct them properly.

Following up on that thought, little things make a big difference in people’s perceptions. Malcolm Gladwell first popularized the “Broken Windows” theory of crime enforcement, where importance was placed on cleaning up small details (like broken windows) before they contribute to larger ills and everything spirals out of control. This post equates that approach to web site and software development, and stresses the importance of momentum. We would suggest that in applying “broken windows” to IT, such as fixing quirks like slow login scripts that annoy users, is about improving user and management perception of performance. Not to cover up bad performance or quality, but combat negative perceptions when performance and quality are really quite good.

A grassroots movement of using personal e-mail and IM accounts like GMail and AIM rather than corporate accounts appears to be gaining momentum. The boon for the user, not having to learn new software or deal with bugs each time a new client or back-end server is changed, plus more storage.

Finally comes this report that small and medium enterprises down under are balking at the high price of Windows Vista and Office 2007. Evidently the Australians believe “they got all they really needed from earlier versions…” What say us Yanks?

All these links are saved on the del.icio.us/sagesol network open to all our readers.

The outgoing head of Microsoft’s software division, Jim Allchin, made a bold claim last week that MS’s upcoming Vista operating system would not need additional antivirus software to protect it. Just as quickly as the tech press jumped on his statement did did he start backtracking. Writing on his blog, Allchin says: “Wow, you describe a specific situation and suddenly people extrapolate something completely different!” Allchin really has no one to blame but himself, because the reason why he was using a very specific situation is that he was trying to spin Vista’s security measures to make them appear in a more positive light. That’s one way to create spin: don't be false, but craft a situation that puts your point in the best light.

More positive and surprising news is that Britain’s The Inquirer says the release version is “polished, speedy, and looks good on the eye.” They had been panning the release candidate versions of Vista, and the buzz around the earlier version was less than enthusiastic, to say the least.

Program note, all these links are saved on the del.icio.us/sagesol network open to all our readers.

Windows Vista has gone “gold,” meaning it has been released to manufacturing. So Microsoft will make a deadline and have it in PC manufacturers hands at the end of the month and on retail shelves at the end of January. However, there seems to be a funny vibe surrounding it. Don’t expect lines of geeks waiting for a midnight release to snap up copies; the sense out there is that mostly people will be holding their breath hoping it isn’t a debacle. Check out this quote from Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s CTO:

"It's released to manufacturing. That means it went through an immense amount of testing. When it goes out, it will not be perfect and there will be updates. But at the point it's at now, it feels really good. Is it perfect? No, it's software and it will have flaws. But it's fulfilling the roles that an operating system must fulfill in this day and age."

There is someone who is pumped up about their product: “it’s fulfilling the roles.” Wow. To see what could have been, check out Microsoft’s promotional video for Vista from back when it was codenamed “Longhorn.”

So, anyone excited about the impending release of Vista?

With the upcoming launch of Windows Vista, the operating system replacement for XP, here is a sampling of news and opinion from around the web.

• Vista will reportedly have highly restrictive, some say draconian, licensing restrictions: a one-time, and one time only, transfer of the license to another device, but you can run the same copy virtually on the same machine.
• MS will also be taking a hard line against piracy, reportedly crippling machines with unauthorized versions of Vista. This presents a problem, since there are complaints that its watchdog program, Windows Genuine Advantage, produces too many false positives
• A few people have put together a wiki of third-party applications that are not working or have significant issues in Vista RC2; Although Microsoft’s Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 may be a workaround for legacy systems, if you are brave enough or have mad skillz.
• Then there are the many existential musings about whether Vista is worth the upgrade, including Great Britain's The Inquirier, and from Windows evangelist Paul Thurrott. That leaves some to ponder where is the business case is for upgrading?

We will weigh in on the Vista upgrade issue soon, but give us your thoughts in the comments.