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Story: Avoid big bang Vista upgrades — Gartner

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By now most IT departments should have learned that the "one size fits all approach" doesn't work overall. Exceptions to the rule aren't an exception. They underline flexibility, ability to adjust, customer awareness, business process enabling, pro-active attitude, etc, etc.
Hype words like centralization, consolidation, virtualization, outsourcing, outtasking, etc. make for big fat bonusses for some and yet another way of doing things added to the mix of to maintain things for the rest. And more often then not one failure or disaster (and/or a couple of 'comprimises' to 'keep things moving ahead') some time later (usually in something that was 'overlooked' because it wasn't that easy to centralize, consolidate or virtualize) vaporizes all the cost savings promised on paper beforehand.

Exceptions are the rule. Department A can mostly suffice with locked down terminal like machines. Department B needs all sorts of industrialized equipment hooked up to various local ports. Some managers require mobile equipment. Some key users require software that's written so dirty you just have to run it locally to protect the rest. Others work from home a lot so their home PC needs baby sitting. Etc, etc. 6 months later things are turned around. And 6 months after that new ways of doing the same things will have been introduced. 6 months after that how things are done where and how have mixed up again. And so on, and so on.
Strategic managers focus more on the overall and later then on the overfocused now. And they keep their options open. Better safe then sorry.

So since IT departments should already be able to deal efficiently with a whole number of different situations and configurations, along with maintaining general organizational policies and the exceptions to that, Gartner isn't being very realistic in their advise. Mainly because adding yet another platform in various configurations to the mix is something that is bound to happen anyway so IT departments should be prepared for it. And because of that adding something else then just Microsoft shouldn't be that difficult as well.
If that however is a problem somehow then your biggest worry really is wondering if your IT department (management, staff and tech) is really up to the task ahead in efficient and effective ways and most certainly in (disaster) situations when all kinds of underlying faults, issues and problems suddenly start showing their ugly head (you don't want to be beaten some more when you're already down). And thus if it's perhaps time to make organizational changes in positions that matter because, frankly, they (and you) might not have a real clue concerning IT overall and just do as the salesman orders. Which you can bet will be something completely different every so often and highlighted in many management magazines (the 'make the buzz, get the bizz' tactic). But more essential to the core business then getting the basics in order (which includes being able to deal with damage and change)? And once you have the basics in order would you sacrifice that to move the latest hype in fast, knowing that the next hype is waiting around the corner? Nah, most likely not.

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