Businesses Won't Deploy Win7 Until 2011

By Jane McEntegart
published

Survey data has revealed that an overwhelming percentage of businesses will not be embracing Windows 7 in the next year.

Computing enthusiasts, especially those who are using the beta, can’t wait to get their hands on final version of Windows 7, however the vast majority of IT professionals working for businesses appear to be holding off for at least a year before upgrading to the future of the operating system.

According to a survey of 1,142 IT professionals conducted by Dimension Research, 84 percent of respondents do not plan for a Windows 7 implementation within the next 12 months. One of the top reasons for the slow plan for adoption is Windows Vista’s reputation of being an IT nightmare. Admins are holding off to see how Windows 7 pans out, despite the overall positive feedback from beta testers.

“The research shows that despite the early enthusiasm for Windows 7, organizations are still wary about adoption, demonstrating what could be described as an even overly cautious approach,” said Diane Hagglund, senior research analyst for Dimensional Research and the survey’s author, according to ZDNet. “Negative public perception of Vista seems to have helped build this layer of distrust with Windows 7.”

The survey also revealed some other interesting points. 72 percent of admins were more concerned about upgrading to Windows 7 than staying with the eight-year-old Windows XP.

Perhaps the most interesting is that 50 percent responded that they were considering leaving the Windows platform altogether and seeking alternatives operating systems.  27 percent cited Mac OS X as the top alternative, with the remaining piece of the pie split between various forms of Linux such as Red Hat, Ubuntu and SUSE.

Jane McEntegart
33 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Well this is good. Encourages Microsoft to release a good well coded product. It better be equal or faster than XP, otherwise win7 might flop. Oh yea can it better be able to run Crysis maxed out, or you suck Microsoft ^-^
    Reply
  • Ummmmm.... Since when do businesses ever do that? I was recently layed off from an uber-corporation, they'd been developing/testing their Vista image for about 2 years, and it has yet to pass UAT testing. Most of it came down to driver and software support(including internally developed software), FFS, they could've developed and certified a Linux image in less time than that without any help from the hardware vendors...
    Reply
  • ispyamoose
    I know that my university computer administrators are planning to upgrade all campus machines to Windows 7. All the new machines will run just anything (minus games).

    Since I work for the university, it just means that the next four years of my college career will be tough. Sure, the campus machines are all the same, but student machines I will have to work on could have XP, Vista, or Windows 7. Ugh.
    Reply
  • fuser
    I seriously doubt that the OEMs will be offering a Vista downgrade on their new systems once Windows 7 is released. Does this mean that these corporations are planning to hold off on replacing old desktops?

    Our company will be adopting Windows 7 rather quickly.
    Reply
  • A Stoner
    Microsoft has only themselves to blame. I also think a large part of the reason companies my be willing to switch to a new OS is Microsoft's Carte Blanche wipe of it's entire interface for a new one. If you are going to make the switch, the time is now, when you end up with the same amount of interface relearning time if you stick with Microsoft or Change to a new OS altogether. Thus, if you were already leaning that way, this is the final push over to the dark side.

    Of course, companies planning to switch to Vista and did not complete in time can just move right into Vista II, err I mean Windows 7.
    Reply
  • avericia
    Anyone who has vista on their home box wouldn't question why companies are very hesitant to go to 7.

    Vista is the most annoying OS i have ever used, but it looks nice reminds me of Age of Conan and funcom's quality products.
    Reply
  • FHDelux
    "Computing enthusiasts, especially those who are using the beta, can’t wait to get their hands on final version of Windows 7"

    I love that statement simply because half those enthusiasts will torrent the hacked copy, and the other half will continue to run windows XP because they don't want to pay 200 dollars for an operating system that doesn't work any better than XP does.

    Apple needs to open OS X up to normal PC hardware, now is the time.
    Reply
  • frozenlead
    I've never dealt with Vista from an administrative standpoint (active directory, etc.) but from my personal viewpoint, it's an excellent OS. The only reason businesses shouldn't upgrade to 7 (or even Vista) is if (a) they're under-informed, or (b) use older hardware. I prefer Vista over XP, having used Vista for 7 months or so, now, for work and play.

    I find it hard to believe they're willing to rid themselves of their PC hardware base and invest (likely 2 or 3 times as much) in Mac hardware and software, which is far less compatible with other hardware than Vista is.

    I've used the beta for 7, also, and it's very impressive. I'm considering replacing all my OSs with 7 (even machines with XP).
    Reply
  • frozenlead
    FHDeluxApple needs to open OS X up to normal PC hardware, now is the time.
    Do you think that will be any cheaper, or less pirated, if Apple does release it (which they won't, considering it won't run with half the hardware out there...)?
    Reply
  • GenKhan2
    Isn't it about time to acknowledge greatness?

    WinXP - Best OS EVER
    Reply