A majority of enterprises have migrated to Windows 7 or are planning to do so. But for Windows XP holdouts ready to side-step Windows 7 for the upcoming Windows 8 OS, you are risking a gap in support, stresses research firm Gartner in a new "first take" analysis of Windows 8 migration in the enterprise.
Gartner analysts Michael A. Silver, David W. Cearley and Stephen Kleynhans acknowledge that for organizations running late with Windows 7 it is tempting to forego the OS, but with support for Windows XP ending in April 2014, organizations would be cutting it close.
See also: Microsoft Windows 8 review
Microsoft has not announced a general release date for Windows 8, but Gartner believes the company may target back-to-school buyers in 2012 - in which case, the RTM (release to manufacturing) of Windows 8 would likely start around April 2012, a date that would allow general availability by midyear 2012.
"Even if Microsoft meets that very aggressive timeline, independent software vendors and enterprises will likely need nine to 18 months to obtain and test supported applications and plan deployments," the Gartner report states. "That means that most organizations would not be able to start deploying Windows 8 until the end of 2013."
And five or six months after that, Windows XP goes off life support.
At its BUILD developer conference this month, Microsoft unveiled the Developer Preview version of Windows 8, revealing details about the Metro "tile-based" UI, the compatibility with Windows 7 applications, the ease of building Windows 8 apps, and the different devices and form factors that Windows 8 will run on.
Microsoft has focused more on what Windows 8 means for developers and consumers than it has for IT departments. But in an interview, Rich Reynolds, GM for Windows Commercial Marketing, emphasized Windows 8 enterprise security and networking improvements over the well-received Windows 7. And then there is the tablet factor. Windows 8 will run on all the hardware that Windows 7 runs on, plus it will utilize ARM-based chips to run on lower-powered devices like tablet PCs, a market now dominated by the iPad and one that will become more important to enterprises as employees increasingly depend on personal devices for work purposes.
Some examples of new or enhanced enterprise features in Windows 8, according to Microsoft's Reynolds: More efficient use of Direct Access, a networking feature in Windows 7 that lets mobile workers connect to corporate networks without the use of a VPN; BitLocker encryption is streamlined in Windows 8 so that only sectors of the hard drive that contain data will be encrypted and will do the task while you are working; in addition, Windows 8 will introduce a feature called Secure Boot, which prevents malware from booting up before the OS boots up.
"Obviously we're excited about the new features in Windows 8, but our guidance for enterprise customers using Windows XP is to focus on accelerating Windows 7 deployments," says Reynolds. "End of XP extended support is in April 2014, which leaves little time for organizations to move to Windows 8. In fact, in most cases we think it wouldn't even be possible."
To that end, Gartner presents four recommendations for Windows XP enterprise holdouts that are at a crossroads in their deployment strategy.
- Organizations running Windows XP and working on Windows 7 migrations: Continue as planned; do not switch to Windows 8.
- Organizations that find it difficult to do "forklift" upgrades: Consider bringing in Windows 8 through attrition.
- Organizations interested in new devices enabled by Windows 8: Consider Windows 8, even if you intend to skip Windows 8 for traditional PCs.
- Enterprise developers: Become familiar with the Metro style of applications, which will likely be the preferred desktop metaphor in the future as the focus for Windows 8 applications.
Shane O'Neill covers Microsoft, Windows, Operating Systems, Productivity Apps and Online Services for CIO.com. Follow Shane on Twitter @smoneill. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Shane at soneill@cio.com
Read more about operating systems in CIO's Operating Systems Drilldown.
Comments
Jonnyspam789 said: OK I am sorry and I shouldnt have said that I apologies
sirjohng said: We have XP Vista and Win7 on various machines all running MS Office and Sage and apart from the painfully slow booting of the Vista machine no one finds any difference in real time operationMicrosoft will try anything to sell their products and to get people to buy win7 as an upgrade path is exactly what they did with with Win7 by blocking direct XP upgrades so you had to go through Vista or carry out a clean install Scare tactics As usual we will not even consider Win8 until the first service pack is releasedI personally find Win7 a lovely platform to work onI cannot understand anyone wanting to change to Linux which Distro for heavens sake it is quick and OK for surfing but that is about it there is a total lack of overall cohesion between developers which is still very confusing particularly in a business atmosphereWe have never had any problems with free email platforms from Microsoft from OE to Windows Live Mail they all send and receive email very efficiently which is their prime purpose after all
Jase Wolf said: the only other machine that I plan on buying if can afford it is a MacBook air for taking to college with me as I we already have a dell pc sisters netbook my iMac my iPod touch so Im not planning to get any more PCs except Macs so Im fineBut this is pathetic that MS is doing this
Jase Wolf said: I agree with that there is no need to be abusive but I agree with him that Vista was not good I hated Vista so much and I dislike Win7 win8 dev preview seems excellentMy acer one netbook can cope really well with win8 a lot more that with xpYou lot staying with vista you better pull your socks up for win8 as it is bloody fastMy netbook runs a lot faster with win8 then my mums dell pc downstairs used to with win7it starts quicker than my iMac i3 for Fing out loud really astonishedBut then my netbook with xp with quite a bit on out beat my laptop with a very fresh install of win7 and my laptop was about double the specifications that my netbook isanyway I thought I would like to come into this conversation to say that vista is not good
Tonto said: I migrated from XP to Windows 7 on my desktop - I think it is a smoother system am quite happy to use itI have Vista Home Premium on my AMD64 Laptop and find it a pain It takes a long time to boot up despite 2GB RAM - XP was better than VistaI cannot understand the thinking of Vista enthusiasts
Jay said: Owen any particular reason you feel a need to be so abusive
Jayprime said: facebook-613748067disqus- Nope Brand new laptop already loaded with Windows 7I never had any problems with Vista which was already loaded when I bought THAT laptop but now that Ive had to change laptops Im lumbered with W7 which is nowhere near as user friendly as I found Vista to beAnd as for Windows Live Mail which crp was also already loaded onto my new laptop - I could even contemplateconverting to a Mac just to get away from it
owen said: I think all of you are on drugs and i think you are fucing mental thinking that vista is excellent It was so rubbish on ONE gb of ram but when i got Windows 7 it was soo much faster
Beresford said: Do not buy a Win8 OEM machine It will be hardware-locked meaning Linux will not be able to be dual-booted
Richard T said: Totally agree I always found it to be an excellent system still have 4 units running Vista very successfully
Sca Malarm said: Anyone for Linux
Rmmontgomery said: Have you seen their bizarre interface I dont want my screen to be covered in finger prints Bad enough of the tablet
Jon Storm said: Windows 7 works and is much quicker than Vista Vista is typical MS bloatware slow and fat and poorly designed They have never yet produced two Windows releases in a row that work so 8 is likely to be another lemon I suspect Jayprime may have done an upgrade instead of a clean install Windows upgrades often dont work very well
Wlabunski said: I never had any problems with Vista too
Adam Dougal said: Youre probably different to the rest of the world in that regard
Jayprime said: over the well-received Windows 7 Personally I would be happy to get rid of Windows 7 and go back to Vista Far less user-friendlyI never had any problems with Vistabut W7 is a pain in the butt