Windows 7 Faces Indifference in the Business World

[Andy Chalk]

Windows 7 Faces Indifference in the Business World

Windows 7 [http://www.microsoft.com] until at least 2011.

Mainstream support for InformationWeek [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/], meaning that most are still running Windows XP and plan to do so for some time yet.

Things improve after the first year of release, although not dramatically so. 42 percent of respondents said they would roll out Windows 7 in 12 to 24 months of its release, 24 percent said they would wait 24 to 36 months and 17 percent said it would take more than 36 months before they went ahead with the move. And while a smooth and successful launch of a well-built operating system could change those numbers, it's hard to deny that they represent bad news for Microsoft. The company's death-grip on the PC market has been slipping, helped along by the unpopular Windows Vista [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/], and fully half of the survey's participants said they've considered switching to a non-Windows environment in order to avoid Vista or Windows 7.

Mainstream support for Windows XP is ending but "extended support," which offers security updates to all users but reserves non-security-related hot-fixes only to companies with support contracts, will continue until April 2014.


Permalink

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

Just based on that screen shot, it looks like a dodgy version of the current Mac OS. Not a smart move.

 

[UltraBlumpkin]

Most businesses weren't even going to Vista before the economic downturn. Why would any bother paying for W7 when times are tough, and budgets are shrinking? Even moreso if they move to the subscription model of licensing it.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

I don't understand why microsoft is pumping these out so fast. People are just starting to switch to and learn vista.

P.S. UltraBlumpkin your name is sick lol.

 

[Baby Tea]

Just based on that screen shot, it looks like a dodgy version of the current Mac OS. Not a smart move.

I almost totally wrote off Windows after Vista, with it being a poor, bloated excuse for an operating system.
But every preview and review of Windows 7 that I've seen is coming back really positive. So actually a little impressed. Not too impressed, since it's not even officially released yet, but this could be the proper successor to XP after the 'sucks-my-balls Vista' version.

If so, we'll just tuck Vista into the same drawer as ME and not really talk about it any longer.

 

[oktalist]

Well, duh. Most businesses don't adopt a new MSOS (Microsoft Operating System) until at least service pack 1. I'm sure this was expected.

 

[Sir Ollie]

This is normal i thought most places don't upgrade for at least a year, because of buggy crap OS's

 

[oktalist]

I don't understand why microsoft is pumping these out so fast. People are just starting to switch to and learn vista.

I know, it's perverse! Like planned obsolescence in reverse. They wait until just when they've sorted out pretty much all the problems with the current version, and then release a whole new version with a whole new set of problems. Repeat ad infinitum. Surely it's unsustainable.

 

[MontyGommo]

I don't know why anyone is surprised, I don't think i've ever heard of a business stupid enough to change to a new OS on release.

 

[Nimbus]

The only way Windows 7 could be a sucsess is if the released it for free to the poor suckers who bought Vista.

 

[randommaster]

http://www.xkcd.com/528/

From what I've heard, Windows 7 has way too much Hitler. It seems like they've toned the Hitler down a bit, though, based on the screenshot.

Off topic, does anybody know if 4chan has created a new MS-tan for W7 yet?

 

[Doug]

I don't understand why microsoft is pumping these out so fast. People are just starting to switch to and learn vista.

P.S. UltraBlumpkin your name is sick lol.

Because no one trusts Vista now - and thats unlikely to change for the next year or so. So much negative stuff happened pre-Service pack 1 that people aren't use to the idea its not total crap now, heh.

 

[writtenonmyveins]

Uh, I'm an IT guy and yeah, it's standard practice to generally not deploy a freshly released OS. Usually you allow time for a service pack to be released, but at the very very minimum you have to take time to testbed it for a while on development or spare systems to determine compatibility with current software and hardware. That plus XP Pro has been the de facto standard for business enviornments for so long and is so well supported, along with having such a wide range of compatible hardware/software that it's going to take some time to convince people to switch off of it. I don't think the whole "switching to a non-Windows environment" thing is going to happen for most places. Unless your end users are all IT people, it'd be a support nightmare to put most Linux distributions in front of people who are non-technical.

The Windows 7 Beta has actually been pretty decent too. Vista was complete crap, but they seem to have learned from a lot of their mistakes and 7 is shaping up decently. That doesn't mean I'm going to charge out when it's released and pay $200 for it (dream on M$), but don't write it off before you check it out.

 

[oliveira8]

I don't understand why microsoft is pumping these out so fast. People are just starting to switch to and learn vista.

P.S. UltraBlumpkin your name is sick lol.

Cause Vista is crap.

XP is good much better than Vista and millions of people prefer it over Vista.

 

[Simriel]

I will be getting 7. Just because I want to mainly. I like shiny new things ^^

 

[dcheppy]

It's almost like people who buy it pre-service pack are beta-testing it for the rest of us.

Thanks guys!

 

[Pumpkin_Eater]

http://www.xkcd.com/528/

From what I've heard, Windows 7 has way too much Hitler. It seems like they've toned the Hitler down a bit, though, based on the screenshot.

Off topic, does anybody know if 4chan has created a new MS-tan for W7 yet?

Pretty sure they originate on 2chan, but to answer your question not that I've heard. /c/ will probably be the first board to have her though; check there every few days.

I for one am looking forward to Windows 7, largely because many of my friends are in the beta and all speak highly of it. Boots faster than XP and runs more efficiently from what I've heard. Switching to Vista was never a very good idea, but according to what I'm hearing from everyone who runs and benchmarks the three OS's 7 is the best.

 

[scotth266]

This is normal i thought most places don't upgrade for at least a year, because of buggy crap OS's

Ayup. This IS standard practice. You don't upgrade until they fix the major bugs at least.

 

[randommaster]

http://www.xkcd.com/528/

From what I've heard, Windows 7 has way too much Hitler. It seems like they've toned the Hitler down a bit, though, based on the screenshot.

Off topic, does anybody know if 4chan has created a new MS-tan for W7 yet?

Pretty sure they originate on 2chan, but to answer your question not that I've heard. /c/ will probably be the first board to have her though; check there every few days.

I for one am looking forward to Windows 7, largely because many of my friends are in the beta and all speak highly of it. Boots faster than XP and runs more efficiently from what I've heard. Switching to Vista was never a very good idea, but according to what I'm hearing from everyone who runs and benchmarks the three OS's 7 is the best.

I prefer not to browse either chan because I usually have to do it on a public computer, and it's really weird having to explain why certain pictures are on your browser.

Anyways, yeah, it seems like MS is trying to make up for Vista as soon as possible. Maybe a miracle will happen and it W7 will actually be useable at launch.