Study: Unlike Vista, Windows 7 is ready for business
Vista was too bloated for many corporate PCs to handle when it arrived three years ago. Its successor, Windows 7, is a better fit. Photo: Microsoft.
Rewind three years. One of the harbingers of doom for Windows Vista, Microsoft’s much-maligned operating system, was a survey that showed half of corporate PCs were too old or anemic to upgrade from XP to Vista. In other words, to get the new software, companies would have to spend a fortune on new computers.
Most never made the upgrade: 92% of PCs in the United States and Canada are still running XP, according to Softchoice, an IT consulting firm.
So it’s a good omen that Softchoice, the same firm that issued that fateful Vista study, is singing a very different tune about Windows 7. This time, its survey of 450,000 corporate PCs in the U.S. and Canada shows that 88% can handle the upgrade.
That matters because with today’s tight IT budgets, some companies will look to install Windows 7 on PCs they already own rather than buy new ones.
“Corporations, more now than ever, are trying to stretch a buck,” says Dean Williams, services development manager for Softchoice. And this time, they can. “Hardware requirements are not nearly the issue that they were three years ago when Vista was launched – it’s like night and day, really.”
Stats like this are fueling optimism in the tech world, since a popular new Microsoft (MSFT) OS can jump-start sales of other gear and services. Softchoice is among the hopeful: it offers software that helps companies plan their OS upgrades, and this survey seems to indicate that there’s demand for its services.
PC industry titans expect healthy sales of new Windows 7 PCs, too. Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini said this week that the new OS has inspired some big companies to look at buying PCs again. Todd Bradley, executive vice president of Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) PC group, told Fortune last week that he expects Windows 7 to help retail sales this holiday season.
But for the tech industry, here’s the best Windows 7 stat of all: the average corporate PC is now four or five years old, since companies have delayed purchases in a down economy. That’s ancient by IT standards – old enough that it’s more expensive to maintain them that it would be to recycle them and buy something new.
@Ubuntu Boy
If you run Linux, who do you call when things break? If there is sufficient support out there for anything Linux, is that also free?
Businesses run Microsoft software because of the ecosystem build around it, and because most users are familiar with Microsoft's OS and Office products.
Linux marketshare is small for a reason. http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2179
92% still run XP….hmm maybe all the users are FED up with apps and updates.At least cacnocal's ubuntu makes it easy[until a new yearly distro comes around, then you need to download and reinstall and reinstall all your apps again] to update.The ubuntu app update can be eased by use of saving a packing list,therefore you only need to go through the massive app list ONCE.
They are making user codecs such as MP3 and MWV easier to install, though they can't include them for obvious reasons in licensing.MP4 support is out of the box.Blu-ray and DVD support is there with some work.The release of LinDVD app to the communiuty now makes that work very very light.
It has everything I need.Close to $1200 in M$ apps for free.FREE.So yeah, why not support the community and the codebase when I can, even If I don't write C?? Just makes sence.
Think about switching to Ubuntu server and $ave big.some large company out of Germany made a large research project.Linux in corporations SAVES money, not the other way around.
So, I ask this…which M$ rep paid you to push Windows? I'd like to sue them for false advertising.Thise kiddy commercials are getting old and windows does not, despite the ad, live up to what M$ claims.IT TRIES.
Don't listen to the hype.Ubuntu is more user and kid friendly than Windows 7.And you don't even have to install it to run it.
I'm hoping someone actually connected to CNN will notice this, but (presumably) thousands of would-be Windows 7 users have been left in the dark today. I am one of many who downloaded the student-discount version of Windows 7 upgrade today, and the program is a total flop. Apparently this is true for users who downloaded normally, not just at the discounted price, as well. Check out these threads from Microsoft support (the first one is quite the generic response, and the only attempt Microsoft has made today at informing anyone about the problem. Customer service at both Microsoft and Digital River, where the download occurs, both claim the other party is responsible):
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/cb679e27-f2e6-4cd5-b708-a4992cec5a9d
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/62675a69-2a19-4695-8c8d-8a83be589708?prof=required
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/aedb1245-f8f9-42ec-9a