REVIEW: Now Is the Time to Evaluate Windows 7 (
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With Windows 7 now released to manufacture and with licensing
available for Software Assurance customers, the time is right for
enterprise administrators to begin testing the new operating system in
earnest.
For while Windows 7 itself is really a somewhat modest improvement
over Windows Vista in terms of performance, features and
security, the time is coming for most enterprises to consider a
client upgrade to take best advantage of the latest technologies. Come
October, Windows XP will celebrate its eighth birthday, and the aging
OS is not the best choice out there for multicore systems and 64-bit
architecture on the hardware side, nor is it best-suited for modern
networking technologies such as IPv6, ISCSI or even wireless networking.
The most noticeable and compelling aspect of Windows 7 is
undoubtedly the revamped Aero interface (which I first looked at
in my review of the public beta). With the Aero Peek
thumbnail-driven task bar blending access to dormant applications and
background windows alike; new Jump Lists providing quick access to
application-specific documents and history; and Libraries extending the
scope of access beyond the computer and out to the network, a lot of
applications and documents are now within the user’s reach with just a
few clicks.
But GUI enhancements are not what will drive enterprise uptake of the new operating system.
For this audience, there are a number of features in Windows
7--including DirectAccess (remote access into the network leveraging
IPv6) and BranchCache (local caching of files and sites)--that are
designed to work with servers and domains upgraded to the latest
version of Microsoft's server line, Windows Server 2008 R2. eWEEK
Labs will look at those kinds of features down the road in our "better
together" testing of the two products in use in tandem. In the
near future we’ll also look in more depth at the new Enterprise Search
and the myriad virtualization options available for use with Windows 7.
In
eWEEK Labs' early tests of Windows 7 RC, Microsoft's
method for dealing with application compatibility--Windows XP Mode for Windows
7, or XPM--left something to be desired. Read more here.
For this review, however, I focused on some of the questions
that arise early in an evaluation: Will the platform install on a
relatively current stable of hardware? Can I upgrade to get there? Will
it improve security on the desktop? Will it improve performance over
the last version of Windows?
For those questions, the answers, respectively, are: yes, it depends, it depends and somewhat.
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