Will Windows 7 Be a Swing and Miss in the Enterprise? (
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Microsoft is counting on Windows 7 to counteract quarters of declining revenue and Vista's unpopularity. IT professionals interviewed by eWEEK indicate mixed feelings about a move to Windows 7, with some demanding increased value-add before a switch and others jumping on the new client after skipping Vista.Microsoft needs a substantial hit in Windows 7 to counteract
quarters of declining revenues as well as Windows Vistas unpopularity.
Some analysts say that a tech refresh centered on Windows 7 is in the
cards for many SMBs and the enterprise, but interviews conducted by
eWEEK suggest that adoption may not be immediate nor wholehearted on
everyones part.
This hesitation seems to stem from a couple of issues.
The first is cost. In the midst of a massive global recession, firms
have been paring down their IT budgets and are less inclined to spend
on a tech refresh. This has led to a dip in PC sales that has caused a
ripple effect in Microsofts cash flow: For the fourth fiscal quarter
of 2009, Redmond reported that its year-over-year revenues had declined
17 percent.
The second reason for hesitation about Windows 7 relates to
the legacy of Windows Vista, whose memory requirements, security issues
and lack of backward compatibility with many Windows XP applications
left many users feeling bruised. In turn, many of those users elected
to stay with Windows XP and their old PCs, which by 2008 had an
industrywide average age of 6.1 years, according to a report issued in
July by Deutsche Bank.
I wish I had never seen Vista, said Gerry Heimann of
Raytheon, a major defense contractor. I have removed it and returned
to XP, SP3 and my old version of Office.
Heimann wanted to make it clear that his views were his own and not
Raytheons. That said, Heimann has no intention of embracing Windows 7
and Office 2010 as they stand now.
I will never switch to Windows 7 or Office 10 unless
Microsoft does a better job at creating a product that is user-friendly
and improves the overall experience, Heimann said. Vista has been a
very unrewarding product and an uncalled-for cost.
In his frustration, Heimann is looking very hard at moving to
Apple, adding that Windows 7 and Office 2010 will present a potential
value only if the products prove faster and easier for him to use than
their previous iterations.
Other administrators who skipped Vista plan to upgrade to Windows 7.
Among their number is Raymond McKay, a network/telecom manager for the
MIS division of Warwick, RI. Early reports about the new operating
system, as well as in-house testing of the pre-release product, left
him with a much better feeling about Windows 7 than Vista.
McKays office didnt embrace Vista the first time around for a
number of reasons, including budget and known driver issues for many of
McKays then-current machines.
Also, we are an Active Directory shop, said McKay, and did
not see the need to upgrade the servers just to manage the new OS.
The jump from Windows XP to Windows 7, which will require a clean
install and the backup of user information onto servers, is something
that McKay has been planning out for some time. The initial steps of
the Windows 7 upgrade will involve performing desktop refreshes with
machines where the new operating system is pre-installed, before
porting the new operating system onto some pre-existing machines.
It will be a substantial undertaking, but also an important one:
McKays desktops are aging, and the lack of a system refresh for 18
months has made an upgrade a necessity.
| | Reader Comments: Will Windows 7 Be a Swing and Miss in the Enterprise? | | >>> Post your comment now!
| | reinstall all apps!leopard upgrade to snow leopard - no need to reinstall apps or most settings. Less effort for a faster better OS.
xp upgrade to win 7 > reisntall... Posted At: 10-22-09 By: kissack | | | | | | W7 (6.1) Will be tough for businessesRemember that Windows 7 is actually Windows 6.1 - the official version you will see outside of marketing. It's the same code base as Vista but with a... Posted At: 10-20-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | Windows 7 in the EnterpriseUptake will be very slow and not complete until just before the end of security patching for Windows XP.
It still has the same Enterprise issues... Posted At: 10-14-09 By: pjb | | | | | | A user comment on this articleI have an xp machine along with a vista. XP works and Vista tryes to. I expect widows 7 to be application heavy and slow. Waiting. Posted At: 10-14-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | A user comment on this articleyeah. i agree. i ordered 4 copies of windows 7 ultimate and can't wait 'till October 22. The article was ok, but I love Vista and I guess just the... Posted At: 10-10-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | Poor articleRandom comments... a poor article, with a sensationalist headline. I especially like how "I will never move to Windows 7 / Office 2010" and the... Posted At: 10-08-09 By: Pat | | | | | | a winnerI am looking forward to Windows 7. I think that attitudes affected most people about Vista more than anything else. One computer saavy person I... Posted At: 10-05-09 By: Kent | | | | | | >>> Post your comment now! | | | | | |
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