Windows 7: An OS for Businesses

Tuesday, 28 July 2009

Windows 7 stands in stark contrast to its precursor, Windows Vista. Despite Microsoft's hope and hype for Vista, most organizations perceived it as a Windows client OS release that they could easily skip. After all, Microsoft had improved the security of Windows XP, XP ran on the hardware most organizations had deployed, and XP ran the applications organizations wanted to use.

This time the Windows team has taken a different approach, carefully promising only what they could deliver in the time limit they imposed on the update—three years from the release of Vista. By carefully managing changes, ensuring application and driver compatibility with Vista, and working to improve the resource utilization and performance of the OS, Microsoft has a version of Windows that many organizations will be willing to deploy, particularly now that Windows XP is in Extended support.

This report outlines the features and benefits of Windows 7 most likely to interest business and looks at some of the changes to acquiring and licensing the Windows client OS that are timed to occur with the launch of Windows 7 in Oct. 2009.

Sections in the Windows 7 Research Report:


Introduction: Although Windows 7 does provide some new features of interest to businesses, many of the improvements simply remove perceived barriers to upgrading to the latest Windows client OS

Windows 7 Developer Considerations: Applications and devices that work with Windows Vista will likely work without modification with Windows 7, but exploiting new Windows 7 features could still require changes

Internet Explorer 8: Although IE8 can be downloaded for use with Windows XP and Vista, the latest browser from Microsoft will likely be included in all editions of Windows 7

Windows 7 Lockers Secure Data and Applications: BitLocker and AppLocker make Windows more secure by ensuring that data is protected from falling into the wrong hands and controlling which applications can run on a computer

Virtual PC and XP Mode Aid Application Compatibility: A virtual machine monitor, combined with a Windows XP SP3 virtual hard drive, should help small and midsize businesses work around application compatibility problems that would otherwise block Windows 7 deployment

Windows 7 Integrates with Windows Server 2008 R2: The simultaneous development of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 creates integration opportunities, but to benefit, organizations will have to license the Windows 7 Enterprise edition

Windows 7 Enhances Power Management: As customers demand longer laptop battery life and more power-efficient desktops and servers, Windows power management is becoming more important

Windows 7 Editions: Windows 7 will have as many editions as Vista, but each higher edition will be a superset of the next-lower edition, and Microsoft's marketing will focus on only three editions

Licensing Windows 7

Customers planning upgrades to Windows 7 can take steps today, such as purchasing Software Assurance upgrade rights on new PCs, that can reduce the total cost of upgrading