Windows 7: 83% Of Businesses Won't Deploy Next Year

by **Grav!ty** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:09 pm

Windows 7: 83% Of Businesses Won't Deploy Next Year

By Paul McDougall
April 13, 2009

Microsoft may need to keep its Windows XP operating system around a little longer—at least for its deep-pocketed corporate customers.

Mainstream support for XP ends Tuesday but, in news that bodes ill for Redmond and the broader PC industry, new data first obtained by InformationWeek indicates that only a small percentage of businesses plan to migrate to Windows 7 in its first year of availability.

Economic concerns and worries about compatibility—the bugbear that doomed Vista in the corporate market—will keep Windows 7 on the shelf for all but a handful of enterprises until at least 12 months after the OS becomes available later this year or early next, depending on Microsoft's release schedule.

"Early beta testers are providing many glowing reports about the functionality and performance of Windows 7, especially compared to Windows Vista," note market watchers at Dimensional Research, in a survey that will be released this week. "But is corporate IT excited about the new operating system, or do they dread yet another release?"

They pretty much dread it.

The survey, of more than 1,100 IT professionals, is one of the first extensive looks at Windows 7's early sales prospects. It found that a whopping 83% of enterprises plan to skip the OS in its first year. While the business market typically tends toward caution when it comes to new products, the figure is nonetheless surprising given that almost no large companies migrated to Vista and as a result most have been using XP much longer than planned.

More at: Information Week

by **Grav!ty** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:28 pm

I'll have Windows 7 installed alongside Windows Vista and Windows XP. Windows XP will remain my main OS for quite some time to come. So far I've not seen any compelling reasons to change and change for the sake of change or just because it's *new* just doesn't cut it for me.

As it is, I boot to Windows Vista once a month or so to update my virus definitions, Windows Defender and Windows updates. The only other time I boot to Vista is when I need to check something out to provide support to a member here. Guess I'm a "late adopter" eh...didn't change from Windows 98 SE until about mid 2003 either :lol:

by **yeshuas** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:30 pm

Grav!ty wrote:I'll have Windows 7 installed alongside Windows Vista and Windows XP. Windows XP will remain my main OS for quite some time to come. So far I've not seen any compelling reasons to change and change for the sake of change or just because it's *new* just doesn't cut it for me.

As it is, I boot to Windows Vista once a month or so to update my virus definitions, Windows Defender and Windows updates. The only other time I boot to Vista is when I need to check something out to provide support to a member here. Guess I'm a "late adopter" eh...didn't change from Windows 98 SE until about mid 2003 either

I still have an old IBM ThinkPad with Windows 98 SE on it. :yesnod:

Now that you mention updating, I haven't fired it up in a while maybe I should do that and update the virus defs and stuff, do you know where I can go to do that :rofl:

by **JabbaPapa** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:52 pm

I have a kind of hate/hate relationship with XP.

I finally installed it in late 2003 after my old 98SE box went ker-blooey, but I almost immediately upgraded to Longhorn/Vista (well, early 2004) and never really looked back ; although the occasional technical issue has surfaced occasionally over the years to push me temporarily into XP til it was fixed.

I *far* prefer Vista to XP, as a personal preference ; buuuuut in my opinion W7 just blows both of them out of the water.

The laptop I'm typing from now came with Vista preinstalled, which I immediately formatted of course -- say byebye to factory-installed crapware :whistle

Norton Antivirus I mean, not the OS :lol:

I instead installed a XP x64/Vista x64 dual-boot, which became a XP x86/Vista dual-boot --- but since I got my hands on W7 my Vista has gone the way of the dodo and I think it unlikely I will ever use it again.

Currently have a XP x86/W7 x64 dual-boot, but the XP is destined to be WIPED and never used again on this rig (I almost never boot into it since getting my hands on W7).

The only flavour of XP that I _like_ (I don't count XP x64, as it uses the 2k3 codebase) is Windows FLP 2006, which can be installed on quite a few old 98SE/Me boxes, and has been professionally trimmed down, streamlined, and optimised by Microsoft Engineers instead of by the usual amateur hackers who do that kind of thing

by **augie** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:48 pm

Ya, businesses don't normally want to spend the bucks unless they absolutely have to and with the current economic condition they sure won't if what they have now is good enough. I haven't fooled around with W7 too much but will install and use the next beta. I have a lot of setup to do if I go W7 as I fold pretty heavily on my main rig. If they give a 180 day then I'll go for it. :yesnod:

by **yeshuas** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:01 pm

augie wrote:Ya, businesses don't normally want to spend the bucks unless they absolutely have to and with the current economic condition they sure won't if what they have now is good enough. I haven't fooled around with W7 too much but will install and use the next beta. I have a lot of setup to do if I go W7 as I fold pretty heavily on my main rig. If they give a 180 day then I'll go for it.

I have one machine with Windows 7 X86 that is SMP folding, and it does fine