Business Tech For All

As we are approaching the 4 month mark since the release of Windows 7 it’s time to review all that has happened since October.  First of all, despite fear of a Vista backlash, Windows 7 has performed very strong.  In the consumer market Windows 7 has been selling extremely well.  Most of that can be credited to preinstalled OS on new hardware, however, the early positive reviews of Windows 7 have definitely contributed to the sustained momentum.  

The business space has been kind to Windows 7, but by no means has it had quite the success of the consumer space.  By no means is this a surprise.  Traditionally it has taken SMB’s an anywhere from 6 to 18 months to rollout a new OS across their environment.  And that time line is after all of the testing has been completed.  Most of the SMB customers that I have spoken to have indicated that their backlog of projects (most due to catching up from a slow 2009) have pushed a Windows 7 rollout to late 2011, almost a full 24 months after its release.

Unlike Windows 7’s evil older brother, Vista, W7 has quickly built a strong list of applications that are Windows 7 compatible.   The link below is a few weeks old, but it has a complete list of all applications that are Windows 7 compatible.  Application incompatibility was a large factor in Vista’s downfall and it looks like Microsoft did quite a bit of homework to make sure that Windows 7 did not share the same fate.

Moving along with the 4 month mark we are finding that Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) has started going End of Life.  Those who are still using Windows 7 RC are starting to get (sometimes hourly) reminders that it is time to move to the final version of Windows 7.  The RC to full version is pretty tricky, luckily Microsoft has created a nice installation page which you can find here.

Microsoft has definitely learned quite a bit since the tragic release of Vista and have vowed to not make the same mistakes.  Steve Ballmer and his crew have undoubtedly put in some long hours preparing for Windows 7 and that is being shown by the early success.  The biggest test will be over the next 12-18 months as the SMB’s begin to move from testing to a full blown Windows 7 rollout.  

Check out the application compatibility list below:

Windows 7 Application Compatibility List for IT Pros