Windows 7: One Vista at a time.

OK, I admit that over the past few weeks I have been a keen Windows 7 enthusiast. I really like the UI tweaks and for a M3 build, performance is exactly on par with Vista SP1.

 

And, I am getting asked every day, "Should we wait for Windows 7?"

 

I think that the answer is a resounding NO; if you meet the any of the following criteria;

 

1. Your organisation would require over 1 year to completely migrate your applications and desktops from one platform to another. This generally translates to organisations with over 200 applications and 3000+ desktops. Yes, I know this covers most medium to large organisations.

 

2. You are currently using Windows XP (or worse Windows 2K). Given that Windows 7 could be 18-24 months away, vendors may stop supporting XP before you are able to move to Windows 7. See the Gartner report here:  http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/vol4/article4/article4.html . Michael Silver has some great recommendations including;

 

"Organizations that plan to skip Windows Vista should budget to replace at least twice as many PCs as normal in 2012" and that "Most organizations shouldn't skip Windows Vista entirely".

 

3. Windows 7 will require at least the same (possibly more) application compatibility effort and desktop engineering efforts as Vista. Windows 7 is built on the Vista kernel (core) and all Windows 7 features will be a super-set of Vista's current offering. If you start now on the application compatibility effort with the transition to Vista, then the migration effort from Vista to Windows 7 should be quite straightforward.

 

4. Windows 7 RTM may not be suitable for immediate deployment. Many organisations may have to wait for Service Pack 1 before they can migrate their desktop platforms. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 may not be available until 2011.

 

5. Microsoft plans to tightly couple the release of the next version of their desktop and server platforms. Vista will be able to integrate better with these new server operating systems and will make a migration from Vista rather XP much easier for application compatibility,  security configuration and user acceptance.

 

 

References:

“The Business Value of Windows Vista: Five Reasons to Deploy Now”

http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/7/5/c75ff4cd-fb38-41e0-8da5-1bcd710ceb34/Vista_WP_online.pdf