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Microsoft almost certainly will ship Windows 7 in 2009, and the release candidate is expected no later than May 30. The timing is bad for many enterprises because of the economy’s impact on IT spending. But if your organization is running Windows XP-and the majority of organizations are-migration is inevitable. Mainstream Windows XP support ended on April 14. The question is, What does your organization need to know to prepare for Windows 7?
According to a Dimensional Research report commissioned by Kace Networks, only 17 percent of enterprises plan to upgrade to Windows 7 within 12 months. Of the 1,142 IT professionals surveyed, 43 percent cited the economy as a factor delaying deployments. Interestingly, 17 percent of those surveyed are running Windows 7 Beta 1 and the same number are planning first-year upgrades. The number planning Windows 7 deployments jumps to 59 percent within two years.
1. Most enterprises will need Software Assurance. If your organization doesn’t have an Enterprise Agreement or Software Assurance applied to Select or Open agreements, Microsoft will require annuity licensing upgrade protection to get new deployment tools or Windows 7 Enterprise or both. Vista carried the same requirement, but it had little impact since so few businesses upgraded from XP or Windows 2000. According to a Forrester Research report published April 14, less than 10 percent of European and North American businesses have deployed Vista; 71 percent have XP installed. According to Dimensional Research, which released its report on April 13, 83 percent of IT organizations will skip Vista and go right to Windows 7. Startlingly, 53 percent of enterprises will do this to avoid Vista.
The Software Assurance requirement isn’t for your benefit but for Microsoft’s. More than 80 percent of Windows sales come from new PCs. Microsoft wants something more like Office or server software where annuity licensing accounts for about 40 percent and 65 percent of sales respectively. That’s money in the bank to Microsoft, because businesses pay up front, annually, under two- or three-year commitments-29 percent of desktop software pricing and 25 percent for server software.
Businesses could avoid the Software Assurance requirement by deploying Windows 7 Business instead of Enterprise, but they would still need coverage to get Microsoft deployment tools.
2. Application compatibility will be better with Windows 7, but not necessarily great. Many enterprises found that Vista broke their existing applications or that third-party hardware drivers were not available. Windows 7 won’t inflict as much pain on enterprises, if for no other reason than they got it with Vista. Microsoft has made big compatibility promises about Windows 7, but with a catch. Applications certified for Vista should be nearly universally compatible with Windows 7. Most XP applications broken by Vista likely will be broken by Windows 7.
The Dimensional Research survey found software compatibility to be IT decision makers’ top concern about Windows 7-chosen by about 88 percent. Since most organizations will migrate from XP, many software compatibility problems observed with Vista will continue with Windows 7. The majority of application compatibility problems trace back to security infrastructure changes instituted in Vista, and they will carry forward to Windows 7.
Enterprises should continue qualifying applications for Vista as they prepare for Windows 7’s release. But IT organizations shouldn’t buy into Microsoft’s assurances of improved compatibility. That said, Microsoft has greatly improved the “Compatibility” function available from any application’s “Properties” tab. While clunky in Vista, based on eWEEK testing, the feature works surprisingly well in Windows 7.
In the aforementioned Forrester Research report, analyst Benjamin Gray recommended, “Firms that have begun their Windows Vista deployments should continue their enterprisewide rollouts and only revisit whether to transition these deployments to Windows 7 after its release.” He emphasized: “These organizations will be in a much better position to move to Windows 7 sooner after its release than Windows XP shops because their applications and hardware will remain compatible.”
The Good, the Bad and the Different
3. Windows XP to Windows 7 upgrades will be arduous. Enterprises will find that as a matter of licensing, they can upgrade from XP to Windows 7. But logistically, they cannot. Unless Microsoft changes policies between Beta 1 and the release candidate, Windows 7 installations won’t allow upgrades from XP. IT organizations will have to back up data, wipe the hard drive, reimage the PC with Windows 7 and restore the data.
There are technical reasons, such as file system changes, for this logistical hardship. Any enterprise upgrading existing XP PCs will feel the pain. There are business reasons, too. For example, it’s better for Microsoft and its PC manufacturer partners if businesses buy new computers rather than sticking with old ones.
4. Windows 7 is fast. The new operating system may be based on Vista, but the products share little in common when it comes to performance. Simply put, Windows 7 is speedy in all the ways that Vista isn’t. That’s an eWEEK evaluation based on Beta 1. Typically, because of debugging code and other development considerations, betas run more slowly than release software. If Windows 7 is fast now, the release candidate should be even better.
Microsoft fixed performance where users would notice it most, such as wake-up speed. In eWEEK testing on a Sony VAIO VGN-Z590 laptop, Windows 7 Beta 1 was ready to use, with wireless connected to the network and Outlook receiving e-mail, in less than 10 seconds from sleep mode. The laptop’s configuration: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 13.1-inch LED backlit display with 1600-by-900 resolution, 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS graphics, 3GB of DDR3 (double data rate 3) memory, 320GB hard drive, DVD burner, fingerprint reader, Wi-Fi and Sprint 3G modem.
Windows 7 also speedily switches between tasks. The frequent user interface pauses common with Vista are all but absent on Windows 7 Beta 1. The operating system handles smoothly while speeding without crashes. Many IT organizations and their end users will be satisfied with the performance improvements over XP or Vista.
Some IT organizations will be able to get more from existing PC investments. Windows 7 is the first Microsoft operating system that runs faster on existing hardware than its predecessor. Mac users have seen this kind of upgrade performance boost for years. PCs running XP or Vista but certified as “Windows Vista Ready” should seem faster running Windows 7.
5. Windows 7’s UI is dramatically different from that of XP or Vista. IT organizations that balked at Vista UI changes may be even more shocked by Windows 7. But there is a difference: Many Vista UI changes seemed arbitrary, while they feel more purposeful in the newer Windows.
Based on four months of eWEEK testing, Windows 7 Beta 1 improves productivity. The new tool bar is more task-centric, and Microsoft has removed many distractions from the UI. The new Jump List and Libraries features help users get to applications they’ve used recently or stuff they need to find locally or across the network.
Organizations that have adopted Office 2007 will find many Windows 7 applications to be suddenly familiar. Microsoft has applied the “Ribbon” concept to applications such as Paint and WordPad. The UI synergies help improve the experience of using Office and Windows together.
Enterprises should prepare for the worst in terms of employee training and increased help desk calls. There, organizations going for Software Assurance can make use of training vouchers Microsoft provides as a benefit.
Windows 7 and Office 2010
6. Every organization looking at Windows 7 should test Office 2010, too. Microsoft revealed April 15 that the next version of its productivity suite will be called Office 2010. A “technical preview” is expected sometime in third quarter. Exchange Server 2010 Beta 2 became available April 14.
Microsoft released Office 2007 and Vista on the same day, but there was very little synergy between the products. Also, businesses embraced Office 2007 even as they scoffed at Vista. Now their successors appear to be on separate release tracks, with Windows 7 expected more than six months ahead of Office 2010. Interestingly, right now, Windows 7’s release to manufacturing and the Office 2010 technical preview are tracking for availability at about the same time.
Many enterprises will wait 12 months before beginning Windows 7 deployments, which is still enough for Office 2010 to be released later but deployed simultaneously. For most organizations, the operating system would require more testing and application certification than the productivity suite. The aforementioned UI similarities and yet-to-be-disclosed synergistic features are reason enough for enterprises moving from XP and Office 2000 or 2003 to simultaneously deploy Office 2010 and Windows 7 on new PCs.
7. Windows 7 is better suited to enterprise security than either XP or Vista. For companies willing to bite the Software Assurance bullet, Windows 7 Enterprise offers AppLocker, BitLocker To Go and DirectAccess as valuable security enticements.
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AppLocker gives IT organizations more granular control over application installations and which scripts can run. Many employees use the same computers for personal and professional purposes, which increases the risk of malware infections from installed software or children accessing file-sharing sites.
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BitLocker To Go lets enterprises lock down USB storage devices, which can prevent the copying of unauthorized data or data loss should the drive be lost or stolen.
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DirectAccess uses IPv6-over-IPSec (IP Security) tunneling to create a constant corporate network connection. The feature also requires Windows Server 2008 R2. DirectAccess “promises to streamline the remote management of PCs for IT because users will be more constantly connected and available for security patches and software updates,” Gray wrote. The feature also negates the need for a VPN client, or so Microsoft claims.
Windows 7 isn’t a choice. It’s an inevitable destination for most enterprises. These seven things are just among the many factors IT organizations should consider as they map out their path for getting from XP or Vista to Windows 7.
Joe Wilcox is editor of Microsoft Watch.