It has been known for a little while now that Microsoft’s latest OS, Windows 7, will be released to the computer makers to install as the machine OS for the computers they are getting ready to sell in late July. Then later in the Fall (OCT 22nd), it will be available to the public for purchase. This is welcome news for many who were not as successful with Vista and are quite tired of Windows XP.
I was definitely in that camp. I have a lot of computers that I run at home and they were all Windows XP – all but one machine. That machine was a Vista box that I used for my writing, but it really was limited to that. I tried many times to switch completely to Vista, but in all the times I tried – I failed for one reason or another. Whether it was performance or issues with my VPN software for work – I just couldn’t make the change. Windows 7 has been a complete breadth of fresh air! It is a wonderful operating system. It is fast, and is now running without incident on all my computers. I have said goodbye to Windows XP.
It was recently reported in the press that big business would be waiting till the next release (after Windows 7) till they do the big upgrade of their users from Windows XP to Windows 7. The stat given in the press that it was something like 60% or more said that they would wait for the next release of the OS.
I have to say that I find this to be not so accurate. I don’t think that will be the case myself. I really question that stat. I DO think that many companies aren’t going to rush to change all their users from Windows XP to Windows 7 because of the huge issues that Microsoft and the community had with Windows Vista. And because of these issues, I do believe that companies will wait a bit to see how the reaction in the community is with the latest OS release. They will wait to see which software in the community has issues running on Windows 7, what the main issues are, which security issues come to light, and more. Some companies may flat-out wait till a service pack for the OS is released before they make the move. I can see this conservative move to wait to see how things pan out – but a reaction to wait to the next OS? Come on. That won’t happen.
I do believe that the companies that stay on Windows XP and Office 2003 will be at a competitive disadvantage to their competitors that make the upgrade. I was a strong user of these older technologies and I am now a strong user of the next generation of these technologies (Windows 7 and Office 2007) and I do have to say that I am a lot more productive, quick, and on top of my workload using these new stars. There was a slight learning curve in moving from XP and Office 2003 to the new world of Windows 7 and Office 2007 (soon 2010), though I have to say that it was an exciting lessen and brought a new level of enthusiasm in looking at your work world in a new way – a better way to communicate your messages and ideas and a quicker way to organize your applications and tasks. Really, the companies that don’t make the move in the next year are going to be at risk of entering a stagnant plane of thought within their organization.
The new OS and Office suite will bring the new energy your firm needs. I highly recommend the move.