Windows 8 poses a quandary for the enterprise

Windows 8 has only just reached the preview release stage, but many organisations must already be trying to figure out what the next release of Microsoft's platform means for them, and whether to deploy or to skip this version.

The Windows 8 Developer Preview, made available following Microsoft's Build conference last week, exhibits many design features that seem to be aimed squarely at consumers, but also a raft of new technologies that could prove invaluable to business users and IT departments.

Microsoft's new Metro interface, for example, appears designed to attract consumer interest, with its emphasis on blinking notifications and links to online services and social networks.

And while Microsoft has pledged that Windows 8 will run any software that runs on Windows 7 today, new features such as support for ARM chips will ensure that Windows 8 is going to be significantly different, and this could pose problems for business customers.

"At this point we're not expecting organisations to decide to upgrade their PCs to Windows 8. They may even try to skip it for all their PCs, even new-bought ones," said Mike Silver, a distinguished analyst at research firm Gartner.

Part of the problem is that many companies are still in the process of rolling out Windows 7 across their organisation, Silver said, and are now suffering from "migration fatigue".

"We don't see [Windows 8] as being a big enterprise play," he told V3.

However, Windows 8 also includes many features that IT managers in particular would dearly love to get their hands on.

Notable among these are the Reset and Refresh functions, along with Windows 2 Go, which allows the operating system to be run from a USB key, and upcoming support for touch-screen apps in Microsoft's RDP remote screen protocol.

The Reset and Refresh functions, in particular, could save hours of work for hard-pressed IT staff.

Reset allows an administrator to return a PC to its factory state, removing all user data, which could prove invaluable when preparing a system for a new employee or decommissioning a system at the end of its life.

Meanwhile, Refresh can restore an ailing PC to a working state in as little as five minutes without removing any user data or customisations, providing end users with a self-help tool that could cure many PC problems.

"Refresh takes all data, files, personalisation and Metro-style apps, picks them up, re-paves the operating system underneath, then puts them back in place," said Gabriel Aul, director of programme management for Windows Fundamentals, speaking at Build.

Microsoft also demonstrated at Build how a Windows 8 PC can boot from cold in a matter of seconds, and how new boot-level security can prevent Windows from being compromised by malware on USB sticks and other removable storage.