Linda posted on June 12, 2009 14:12
After months of speculation, Microsoft has announced a definite release date for Windows 7. So what does that mean to you and what should you do now?
In case you haven't heard, the official release date has been set for October 22, 2009. The official release candidate has been available for download for the past month and many, including several in our office, have been checking it out for several weeks.
While I have not personally started using it, my team is reporting relatively few problems and some features that they really, really like.
One that they were eager to show me was the relative ease with which a window can be resized. If you want to maximize a window, just drag it to the top of your screen and it is resized. If you want to compare the contents of two windows, drag one to the left and one to the right, and they will each be resized to occupy half of the screen.
Another feature that has been much talked about is the new snipping tool that makes it easy to capture screen shots. Once you load the tool, you can select an area of the screen to be captured and save it as a jpg or png file. This is a definite improvement over the process you must go through with XP, but if this is something you need to do a lot, you have probably already purchased a tool that makes this easy and more functional than the snipping tool.
One of the most important aspects is that Microsoft has done a lot of work to make Windows 7 faster than Vista. If you are currently running Vista and you decide to upgrade to Windows 7, you should see a performance improvement.
So what does this mean for your business?
First, it almost certainly means that you will really not be able to get Windows XP after October 22. I haven't tried lately to find a new stop sell date for OEM versions of XP. The last time I did look, the date was past, but I can still buy it as of this writing. I cannot imagine that Microsoft will continue to sell it once Windows 7 is released.
So if you are thinking about replacing systems toward the end of the year, you need to thinking about Windows 7. If you have line of business applications, you need to determine if the versions you have will work with Windows 7, or if you will need to upgrade that software before you can deploy Windows 7 workstations. If your application does not work with Vista, it will not work with Windows 7 either.
If you aren't sure if your application will work, you will probably want to do some testing before purchasing new machines. If you work with a local technology provider, they should be able to help you with that process. This may be as simple as loaning you a machine that has Windows 7 installed for your testing. If you have a good relationship with them, and you can do the installation and testing yourself, they may just provide this to you at no charge. If not, then expect to pay for their assistance in your testing. You should consider this money well spent as it will almost certainly save you headaches and hassles down the road.
If you have an application that will not work, but you need to replace systems, then you need to make plans to do so as quickly as possible. You don't want to put yourself in a position where you need new systems, but the only new systems that are available are ones that won't do what you need done.
For more information on Windows 7, you can go to Microsoft's site for all of the official details. A good site for independent information is windows7news.com.