Firms urged to plan Windows 7 move carefully

Between 60 and 80 per cent of business apps may need changes for Windows 7

Windows 7 is now officially available, and many businesses will soon be considering when they should plan for a migration to the new platform, if they have not already begun to do so. However, it may not turn out to be as simple a process as Microsoft would have customers believe.

The advice from analysts and other experts for organisations that have largely avoided Windows Vista is to plan to migrate off Windows XP as early as possible, while firms using Vista are likely to find their deployment runs more smoothly. Those still using XP also need to be wary of some compatibility issues.

Analyst firm Gartner said shortly before Windows 7's 22 October launch that organisations should plan to be off Windows XP entirely by the end of 2012, as it expects software vendors to soon stop testing applications against the older platform.

Gartner also advised firms to start working on a migration project now as, with all the testing and preparation, this might turn out to be a 12- to 18-month process.

One of the first issues companies will face is whether the applications they are using will run under Windows 7, or whether they will need replacing or updating as part of the migration process.

UK firm ChangeBase has said that between 20 and 40 per cent of software typically used by enterprises is ready for Windows 7, but the majority of applications - between 60 and 80 per cent - may need some changes to run reliably on the new platform.

ChangeBase specialises in assisting firms with operating system migrations, and has already conducted over 20 Windows 7 compatibility assessments for global organisations.

The good news is that only minor changes are needed to make most software work, the company said. It has found that only a small percentage of applications require the customer to purchase an upgraded release from the vendor, or for a developer to have to rework in-house applications.

"We've found that all but about five per cent of applications can be made to work by changing the installation," said ChangeBase managing director John Tate. The changes alter the registry keys and file locations used by the application.

The company's AOK suite can audit applications and automate many of the changes that might be required, creating a Windows Installer transform (.mst) file to customise the way the application installs under Windows 7.

While many problem applications turn out to be those that were developed in-house, Tate said that even software from the major vendors can have little glitches that need remediation to work on Windows 7.

Generally speaking, however, there are likely to be fewer problems with applications written for Vista rather than earlier Windows releases.

Other common issues are likely to involve legacy device drivers, old format help files, and legacy control panel applets, Tate said.

However, instead of simply ploughing ahead with a Windows 7 rollout, firms should first reappraise how they deliver IT to their workforce and see whether it can be done better, according to IT services firm Computacenter.

"With things like cloud services, virtual desktop infrastructure and thin clients becoming more widespread recently, it's an opportunity for customers to step back and see if they can use a different set of technologies - such as web-based apps instead of client-server - to reduce costs," said Andy Goddard, practice leader for workplace and collaboration at Computacenter UK.

And while most organisations will take the Windows 7 route, their assessment should consider whether they need to upgrade their infrastructure to Windows Server 2008 R2 if they want to use many of the new corporate-focused features in the latest Windows client.

"Some of these features will require Active Directory changes, and some, like BranchCache, might need extra servers to be deployed," Goddard said.

An audit of the asset base is also essential so that organisations can identify the applications and systems they are running, and firms should take the opportunity to see whether they can simplify their portfolio as part of the Windows 7 migration, such as running fewer versions of Microsoft Office, for example.

"Many customers will take the opportunity to move from Office 2003 to Office 2007 or Office 2010 at the same time, and this will bring extra problems around document file format conversion," warned Goddard.

Most business customers are still using Windows XP, with fewer than five per cent on Vista, according to Computacenter. This has implications for Windows 7 migration because, while the hardware requirements for the new platform are lower than for Vista, customers still need a reasonably beefy machine to get the best out of it.

"If you are running three-year old hardware, it might not be the best fit," said Goddard.

About 10 per cent of XP applications are likely to prove problematic, Goddard estimated. He said that while Microsoft's XP Mode solution has "great potential " for businesses with such problem software, it comes with its own set of issues.

"How do you manage all these virtual machines out in the desktop environment? You could easily run into problems down the line with lots of virtual machines you can't manage," he said.

Overall, Goddard said that Windows 7 is a good product and he expects lots of customers to look at it soon, including Computacenter itself, which is planning a migration next year.

However, cost is also likely to prove a major issue in the current climate. Gartner warns that migration costs could be as much as $1,930 (£1,180) per user to move from Windows XP to Windows 7, and up to $510 (£312) per user to move from Windows Vista, depending on an organisation's approach.