Windows 7: 12 Months On

The 22nd of October 2009 represented one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the history of desktop computing. The launch of Windows 7 promised easier, faster and more secure computing for all. And, boy oh boy, did Windows 7 deliver.

Over the past twelve months, we’ve been working with over 200 global organisations to assist them in their Windows 7 migrations and during this time, we’ve started to see a number of emerging trends.

To celebrate the anniversary of Windows 7, we’ve put together a brief Report, you can request a copy here. In the Report we look at the emerging application compatibility trends, the primary issues and give some suggestions on how organisations can best approach their Windows 7 migration.

Over the past 12 months I experienced a number of situations with organisations that have made me really think again. Here is a quick synopsis of those surprises:

• Windows 7 adoption rates higher than expected being led by 64bit as the primary delivery platform
• The introduction of IE8 has added another layer of complexity into the migration. Organisations need to address compatibility issues for core web applications and browser presentation and rendering issues for internal and external websites and portals. 
• Virtualisation has not been embraced as quickly as expected and organisations are looking towards a hybrid model of virtualised platforms to suit application capabilities
• Windows 7 migration is easier than previous migrations, such as XP to Vista
• Shims are not the answer to application compatibility issues
• You need a level of technical expertise to fully use Microsoft’s application compatibility issue fixes

And, as you have probably seen already, we are still seeing the same top five application compatibility issues across all verticals and industry sectors including:

Windows 7 Compatibility Issue	% Apps Affected	% Fixable
Legacy Help Files	36%	100%
Windows Resource File and Registry Issues	35%	100%
UAC File Header Issues	24%	100%
Custom Action Security Issues	19%	100%
Legacy Control Panel Applet Security Issues	13%	100%

So, now that Windows 7 is a year old, has it met market expectations? In my view, Windows 7 has been a great success, with a rapid adoption rate, good industry acceptance, a stable OS, a small number of resolvable issues and delivers some great benefits such as increased security. 

Given these factors and our experience to date, we estimate that at least 60% of global organisations will be have fully deployed Windows 7 in the next three years. 

Stay tuned for the report - which I should be able to post in the next few days.

Note: If your browser does not display the link to the report correctly, you can find it here:

http://www.changebase.com/survey_win_7.aspx