Microsoft recommends desktop virtualisation for Windows 7 migration

With the one-year anniversary of the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft is giving enterprise customers guidelines on how to migrate to the latest platform, with desktop virtualisation high on the list.

Earlier this week, figures from Forrester Research showed that adoption of Windows 7 is stuck at just 10 per cent of enterprise PCs. While companies plan to fully deploy the new operating system, this is expected to be a drawn-out process over the next few years, according to Forrester.

In a bid to speed things along, Microsoft is giving advice to customers via its Windows for your Business Blog.

"We recommend all our Windows 7 customers look into how desktop virtualisation can help their migration," wrote Rich Reynolds, general manager for Windows commercial marketing at Microsoft.

However, Microsoft's definition of desktop virtualisation is broad, and includes application virtualisation, which provides the ability to separate the corporate desktop into layers (user state, applications and OS) which can be delivered separately if necessary.

The company has also added a new Microsoft Desktop Virtualisation zone to its Springboard series online, which explains how the technologies work together.

This outlines Microsoft's three-pronged approach to desktop virtualisation, consisting of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), session virtualisation and enterprise desktop virtualisation.

VDI involves workers being given access to virtual Windows 7 clients running in the datacentre, while session virtualisation is the new name for Terminal Services, where task-based workers access a server-hosted desktop session.

Both of these solutions avoid the need for current desktop PC systems to be upgraded to Windows 7.

Enterprise desktop virtualisation is Microsoft's solution for dealing with compatibility issues in Windows 7 by delivering applications in a virtual Windows XP machine running on the local system.

"All signs are pointing to the fact that the time is right for customers to deploy Windows 7, and we are very optimistic about Windows 7 in 2011," Reynolds wrote in the blog post.