Windows 7 getting serious traction in enterprise sector

Survey suggests more than half of firms will be running Windows 7 by 2011

Enterprises are warming to Windows 7 much faster than its predecessor Vista, according to new research.

A survey of more than 900 IT administrators worldwide found that 87 per cent of respondents were planning to deploy Windows 7, compared to 47 per cent for Vista in a study held nine months after the launch of that operating system.

Nearly half of those surveyed were going to deploy the operating system across their enterprises before the first service pack, which is due out this summer, and more than half of the total respondents will upgrade by the end of the year.

“As Windows XP becomes out of date and more expensive to support and with Vista increasingly insignificant, IT leaders are embracing Windows 7,” said Diane Hagglund, senior research analyst for Dimensional Research.

“Based on previous research, Windows 7 deployments are dramatically ahead of planned Vista deployments at a similar stage in the OS lifecycle, with most respondents skipping Vista altogether.”

The majority of users will do the upgrade manually using free tools provided by Microsoft and others, with only 27 per cent using a commercial upgrade service or software.

The chief concern for upgraders is software incompatibility, with 86 per cent worried compared to 88 per cent at launch, suggesting Microsoft still has a battle to win over hearts and minds. User training was a concern with about two-thirds of respondents.

Concerns over the stability of the operating system have receded, going from 62 per cent at launch to 41 per cent now.

Windows 7 also seems to be reversing the move to other operating systems. Half of respondents said they were considering a move to a non-Microsoft operating system in 2009 but this year the figure had dropped to 32 per cent.

Of competing operating systems, Apple was the most popular choice, with 32 per cent of people saying they would consider switching. Red Hat Linux and Ubuntu were the next most popular choices

“What a difference a year makes. Windows 7 is looking like it will be the biggest inflection point in Windows OS adoption since XP,” said Rob Meinhardt, president, Dell Kace, which sponsored the research.

“But because there isn’t a direct upgrade path from XP, migrating to Windows 7 could be challenging and costly for many organisations. From a business continuity standpoint, customers just can’t afford not to get the support they need, and that is where we can help.”