“Unavoidable” Windows 7 migration before death of XP in 2014

11 October 2012
3 minute read
Microsoft

“Unavoidable” Windows 7 migration before death of XP in 2014

11 October 2012
3 minute read

In the face of many firms and individuals now considering Windows 8 as their next potential operating system (or not as the case may be) RES Software has undertaken a Windows 7 migration survey in order to try and gauge the state of corporate mindsets as they stand today.

The company suggests that its analysis of more than 330 IT professionals worldwide across a variety of industries may provide some insight into a finding that only 30 percent of organisations have fully deployed the Windows 7 operating system.

NOTE: Windows 7 was released on July 22, 2009, over three years ago.

RES carried out a similar survey in 2010 survey, which indicated (at the time) that 57 percent of respondents expected their company’s migration to be completed by October 2011.

Findings include:

  • 30 percent of respondents reported that Windows 7 had been completely implemented in their organisation; the remaining 70 percent reported that their migration was still in progress or not yet started.
  • Less than half of the respondents (49 percent) who have yet to complete their migration feel satisfied with their ability to execute their implementation on time and within budget.
  • 44 percent of respondents who had not completed their migration yet indicated that they were postponing their Windows 7 implementation to “better assess” the benefits of Windows 8.
  • Of the respondents who had completed their migration, more than half (58 percent) felt they did not have the appropriate staff resources to take on an OS migration.

An “unavoidable” move to Windows 7

“The results of this survey indicate that the unavoidable move to Windows 7 continues to plague IT departments. However, OS migration presents a great opportunity to rethink how IT services should be delivered on the Windows platform overall. Businesses want to update their desktop technology without having to worry about changes in the end-user experience,” said Jeff Fisher, RES Software’s VP of strategy.

“RES Software believes OS migration can be a catalyst for achieving better IT operational excellence and providing a much more cost effective IT environment. RES Software’s solutions can prepare the environment for all future changes of this nature as part of this project plan.”

NOTE: The 2014 cutoff date for Windows XP support will force companies to either upgrade or face security risks unassisted by Microsoft.

The RES survey found many companies are still struggling with a variety of issues. Key problems identified in the survey include redundant and manual processes, the additional staff resources required to take on the migration, and the need for plans and tools to help revert to a previous operating system should the migration project fail.

RES Software’s Dynamic Desktop Studio anticipates and prevents the issues that can arise during future OS migrations through the combination of workspace virtualisation and runbook automation.

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