Careful preparation is the key to a smooth transition to Windows 7.
Although Windows 7 is not a major architectural release, a move to Microsoft’s latest operating system is all but inevitable for most organizations. With support for the eight-year-old Windows XP ending in 2014, organizations that skipped Microsoft’s last OS, Windows Vista, will need to upgrade at some point. Win 7 is also a must for those who did migrate to Vista only to find it overreacted to security threats and had compatibility issues with third-party devices.
“Windows 7 has improvements in memory management to allow users to have a better experience than with Vista on PCs with similar or even slightly lower specifications,” said Michael Silver, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “It adds other features of interest to organizations, as well as to consumers. It is important for Microsoft to get off to a good start with Windows 7 to build momentum and put the problems of Vista behind it.”
Still, a move to Windows 7 requires some preparation. The typical organization requires 12 to 18 months of waiting, testing and planning before it can start deploying a new client OS. Organizations must be sure older PCs have enough memory, disk space and graphics power to accommodate the new OS. There can also be driver compatibility issues, particularly for those migrating from XP.
A key upfront step is creating a working backup of all data, programs and files. Those migrating from XP will have to do a “clean install” of Windows 7, which wipes out everything on the hard drive. Vista users can do an “over-install” that preserves files, but might be better off doing a clean install anyway. Bits and pieces of Vista will remain behind after an over-install, which could create problems down the road.
Gartner offers these suggestions as organizations ponder how to proceed:
Plan to be off XP by year-end 2012. Although Microsoft will offer support with security fixes until April 8, 2014, it is quite likely that independent software vendors (ISVs) will stop testing much earlier. “New releases of critical business software will require Windows 7 long before Microsoft support for Windows XP ends,” said Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner. “Organizations that get all of their users off Windows XP by the end of 2012 will avoid significant potential problems.”
Don’t wait for SP 1 to begin testing and deployment. Traditionally, most IT shops have waited for the first service pack of a new version of Windows before beginning deployments. Gartner analysts say companies should go ahead and begin laying the groundwork for Windows 7 now so they are fully prepared to incorporate SP 1 when it is released in mid-2010.
Don’t skip Windows 7. Gartner categorizes Windows 7 as a “polishing” release on top of the architectural change that the Windows Vista “plumbing” release delivered. Gartner analysts said polishing releases should never be skipped. Organizations that skipped Windows 2000 and waited for XP had some problems spanning the gap, but organizations that adopted Windows 2000 and tried to skip Windows XP encountered many more problems.
Budget carefully. Gartner’s model shows that migration costs could be $1,035 to $1,930 per user to move from Windows XP to Windows 7, and $339 to $510 per user to move from Windows Vista to Windows 7 depending on an organization’s approach.
