Although many organizations have not yet been ready to adopt Windows Vista, at some point nearly everyone will need to migrate to the new Windows OS, as the tide turns from today’s compatibility deficits in Vista to a state in which XP-based PCs will lack the drivers and application support that IT will need to have deployed. After all, as Gartner analyst Michael Silver noted, Microsoft will keep refining Vista and both hardware and software makers will eventually treat it as the default operating system for their products.

No matter when you decide the time is right to adopt Windows Vista, the experiences of early adopters offer lessons on how to get the most from Vista and how to deploy it with minimal disruption.

[ Many IT shops and consultants aren't ready to move to Vista. Find out why, and what their alternatives are. ]

When the time is right to move to Vista, IT can also use the migration as a handy excuse to clean out old apps from the IT portfolio, as many will no longer be fully compatible, says Jeff Dimock, vice president of Microsoft solutions at the IT consultancy Dimension Data Americas: "It is an ideal time to do that."

But first comes the question of when to migrate, then how to do it effectively. InfoWorld talked to several early adopters of Vista to find out how they managed their migrations and what issues came to the fore. For these early adopters, Vista provided unexpected advantages in managing the actual deployment but also raised issues regarding the new security model that required more than an out-of-the-box deployment strategy.

InfoWorld's Vista deployment guide:
Picking the right time to deploy
Vista tools ease deployment and management
Managing Vista security requires IT effort
Special report: More Vista tips and tricks