Today’s businesses, big or small, face trends that were not mainstream a decade ago – highly mobile and distributed workforce, new compliance regulations, more consumer devices in the workplace, and an increased emphasis on operational efficiency and cost-containment. Window XP has had an amazing run, but technology & business needs have changed. Moving to Windows 7 today can help your organization reap the benefits of a modern PC experience while establishing a path to Windows 8.
There are three main reasons to get onto 7 today:
- First, migrating to Windows 7, IE9, Office 2010 and MDOP gives the customer immediate value of a modern desktop and prepares their environment to integrate Windows 8 once generally available. By moving to Windows 7 today, organizations can ensure they run a supported version of Windows and reap the benefits of a modern OS experience to help people stay productive anywhere, enhance data protection and security, and streamline PC management – all of which helps to reduce costs.
Customers all over the world are getting value from a modern desktop with Windows 7. Bombardier Aerospace saved $160K in third party security licensing with the security enhancements built into Windows 7. A leading financial services firm, Baker Tilly has quantified a $191 (US) per PC savings by moving to Windows 7. By securing and managing 10 year old software with Windows XP you are leaving money on the table
2. Second, extended support for Windows XP will end on 4/8/2014. Customers running an unsupported version of Windows and IE 6 will not be eligible for any of our support options. Gartner predicts that more than 50% of organizations that do not start deploying Windows 7 by early 2012 will not complete their deployments before Windows XP support ends, and will incur increased support costs. Creating a Timeline for Deploying Windows 7 and Eliminating Windows XP, June 2011.
3. Third, migrating to Windows 7 will lay the foundation for Windows 8. The investment made today in planning; testing and application remediation for Windows 7 will prepare the customer to make the transition easier to Windows 8 when generally available. Windows 7 is the path to Windows 8 and in the future we will see enterprise environments running a combination of Windows 8 devices and applications alongside Windows 7 PCs and applications. Microsoft recommends customers focus on Windows 7 deployment today. In the future Windows 8 deployment will open up of new scenarios that can support the diverse workstyles across your business.
The planning, testing and remediation of x86 applications to work with Windows 7 and IE 8/9 , will allow you to take advantage of Windows 8 Hardware platforms that support Windows 7 will be capable of running Windows 8. Windows 8 will also run on new hardware platforms such as System on a Chip designs from vendors like ARM, Intel and others.
Bottom Line: The investments a customer makes today to migrate to Windows 7 will carry forward into the Windows 8 timeframe
Source: Microsoft