While Microsoft has yet to provide
any statistics related to the adoption of Windows 7 by enterprise
customers, one company dealing with automated application compatibility
testing and remediation, indicates that uptake is strong. According to
ChangeBASE, makers of AOK, no less than 80% of its customers plan to
upgrade to the latest iteration of the Windows client in the first year
after the OS was released. At the same time, more than half of
organizations looking to migrate to Windows 7, indicate that they will
embrace the 64-bit (x64) flavor of the operating system, revealed
ChangeBASE’s Greg Lambert.
This was a bit of a surprise for us - but, given the nature of the PC
hardware and software ecosystem today, 64-bit OS migrations should be
soon become the norm,” Lambert said, adding, that the number of
enterprises planning to upgrade to Windows 7 has increased since the
platform’s GA. Looking back on the research ChangeBASE conducted with
senior IT decision-makers ahead of the Windows 7 launch in October 2009,
the results showed that more than 65 per cent of organizations hoped to
migrate to Windows 7 within 12 months.” One major victory for Microsoft
in terms of Windows 7 uptake was the fact that Intel upgraded in excess
of 100,000 seats to the successor of Windows Vista. Back in 2007, Intel
was perhaps one of the most representative enterprises that ignored
Vista altogether, and decided to stick with Windows XP. Among the
reasons enumerated by Lambert to explain the success of Windows 7 with
enterprise customers, are also the arguments Intel used to justify the
need to upgrade.
