As an IT manager you need to know about the product life cycle.
- How long will you have vendor support for your system?
- When will you be forced to "upgrade" to a new different version at some undefined cost?
- How consistently can you source existing specifications?
For Windows (WIN32), you may be forced to upgrade to the Windows Vista package:
- WinXP will be supported until 2014
- The costs of upgrading to Vista are considered very high.
- WinXP will only be sold until Jan 2008
In some cases your vendor won't tell you when they will cut off support for fixes and security updates. They often force you to purchase a new "upgrade" version when you are not prepared to do so.
Using the Web platform
The Web is a fantastic open independent platform to base a corporate IT's needs upon. You can configure your desktops to provide a stable up to date browser platform using a variety of solutions.
Webconverger positions itself as the easiest way to get generic PC hardware running a Firefox based Web platform to access Web applications over the Internet.
If Webconverger became unsuitable, then you could swap it out for Chromium OS, Ubuntu or even Windows running Opera for example. Choosing the Web & Webconverger, gets you out of an vendor lock-in.