Financial advisors who are in the market for a new computer might want to wait until Microsoft Corp. launches Vista, its newest operating system, and an upgrade to its suite of office software applications.

The new technology promises to make computing more secure, simpler to manage and easier for advisors to use when they communicate with clients.

“Vista will provide improvements in security, greater collaboration capabilities and easier administration,” says Bill Rourke, president of Salentica Systems Inc. , a software firm that makes custom solutions for the financial services industry. “Given the greater concerns over privacy, compliance and release of personal information, financial services firms will be interested in Vista’s capabilities in these areas.”

Windows Vista is scheduled to be shipped to business customers in November; release of the consumer version has been delayed to January, 2007.

Elliot Katz, senior product manager for Windows clients at Microsoft Canada in Mississauga, Ont., says Vista is in its second release of beta testing among Microsoft developers and it will upgrade the current Windows XP operating system.

Katz says Vista improves Microsoft’s operating system in three key ways: better security and reliability; information is more manageable; and better connectivity.

> Security and reliability

There is a growing number of “malware” attacks over the Internet, Katz says, that make computers vulnerable to hackers: “It’s important to all communities that your personal computer be secure and reliable — and that you have confidence in the fact it is.”

Vista comes with a bidirectional firewall that monitors incoming and outgoing traffic for viruses and malware, stopping them from entering or exiting your computer.

Another safety feature involves administration rights and the ability of desktop users to limit their computers’ exposure to a network. Today, if malware gets into a computer, Katz says, it “inherits the rights of the person who logs on,” which means the rogue program can do whatever the user can do. Thus rogue programs can access your computer network and infect any other machines that are part of that network, such as printers.

Vista has advanced “permissioning,” which allows organizations to set up computers so that passwords and ID are required to add devices such as printers. It also cuts off access to the computer user’s administration info. There is also security to protect data if the computer is lost; users can turn on full encryption to secure the hard drive.

> Managing information

Katz says desktop searches have been “dramatically improved.” An enhanced search feature allows users to search all the information on their hard drives quickly to find relevant information.

The system also improves the use of graphics in order to help users understand what they are looking at on the screen. If a user has a lot of applications and documents open, it can be difficult and confusing to find things. Vista also displays the icons at the bottom of the page; when the cursor rolls over them, a small picture pops up to help the user identify each document or application.

> Improved connectivity

“Collaboration is also a hot issue,” says Rourke, “as firms leverage the Internet and Internet protocol-based phones to enable people in different locations to work together as effectively as if they were in the same office.” Vista makes this easier by improving document management and sharing among users.

For example, Katz says, the system makes it easier for users to “set up networks in a small business or join networks in larger businesses.” Users can also set up ad hoc networks in advance of a meeting to share PowerPoint presentations.

Vista also will make it easier to incorporate RSS feeds in browser software. (RSS is a way to syndicate content and share Web links or feed information from Web or blog sites to end-users.) So Vista will make it easier for advisors to send information from their Web sites or investment blogs to clients.

The Vista system also will make it easier to synchronize desktop computers with devices such as a BlackBerry. Mobile advisors on the go can be assured they have current information when they are away from the office.

The pricing has yet to be worked out, Katz says.

The arrival of Vista also means Microsoft will end paid support for the Windows 98 and Windows Millennium versions of its software; advisors using those old operating systems will need to upgrade.

@page_break@> Office 12

Microsoft is also launching Office 12, an upgrade of its Office suite, which includes applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Mike Bulmer, product manager for Office at Microsoft Canada, says the upgraded software package will rely on the new document format standard XML — extensible markup language — which will make it easier for computers to exchange information.

For instance, it will be simpler to share large Excel or PowerPoint files, something Bulmer says bodes well for financial advisors who want to share graphics-heavy presentations and stock market reports with their clients.

The XML format will also make it easier for IT departments to control sensitive information and content in documents. Data such as account numbers or social insurance numbers can be stripped out of documents and prevented from being sent outside of an organization.

The upgrades will also make it easier for users to create portable document format files directly from different applications; new tools and menus will make it easier for users to insert information such as tables and graphics.

Rourke expects many businesses will upgrade to the new system and software.

“With Microsoft’s move to bundling upgrades as part of the licence fee, many firms will not face the large capital expenditure to repurchase new licences, which will lead to greater adoption, especially by smaller firms,” he says. IE