Easing the Upgrade to Windows 7

Are you eyeing an upgrade to Windows 7 at your organization? If so, some words of advice from research firm Forrester (News - Alert) could help the transition go a lot smoother.

In a report entitled “Lessons Learned from Windows 7 Early Adopters,” (PDF) Forrester offered several words of wisdom for IT pros planning to adopt Windows 7. Though Forrester’s report was written back in February, I think its recommendations remain useful and relevant.

To compile the report, Forrester interviewed 40 early adopters of Windows 7 about their experiences migrating to the new OS. Among the IT professionals surveyed, most found Windows 7 to be a solid release providing benefits in productivity, security, management, and green IT, according to Forrester. They also reported that their users were seeing greater stability, faster startup and shutdown times, more reliable sleep modes, better search options, and an improved experience working outside the office.

But to capture those benefits and offer your users a smooth transition to Windows 7, Forrester outlined the following tips:

·         Don’t underestimate application compatibility issues. One of the trickiest issues in any upgrade is ensuring that your company’s existing applications, both in-house and third-party, will work under the new OS. Based on the feedback it received, Forrester estimated that companies still on Windows XP should expect around two-thirds of their applications to not be supported natively under Windows 7. But those running Vista can anticipate compatibility issues with only around 3 percent to 5 percent of their applications.

Microsoft (News - Alert) does offer tools to test all the software you support, including the Application Compatibility Toolkit and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. But ultimately it’s up to IT to check the compatibility of each application and come up with the right solution or workaround for ones that can’t handle the upgrade. Forrester suggests that compatibility issues with third-party applications can often be resolved by upgrading to newer versions or by virtualizing those programs--Microsoft provides Windows Virtual PC, which lets you run programs incompatible with Windows 7 in Windows XP virtual mode. Applications developed in-house may need to be recoded or set up with shims--workarounds that get past compatibility issues without recoding.

·         Tie in the OS upgrade to your natural PC refresh cycle to ensure hardware compatibility. Most of the early adopters of Windows 7 said they combined their OS upgrade and PC refresh projects into one by buying or leasing new PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled. This helped reduce the time and effort needed for manual upgrades and PC compatibility testing. But one-fifth of the people surveyed said they looked at the Windows 7 upgrade as a chance to extend the life of their existing PCs by another two or three years since it’s less hardware intensive than Windows XP or Vista.

·         Invest in a client management suite to automate the deployment and management of the new OS. Most IT pros need some type of client management software to automate their hardware and OS upgrades. The ongoing rise of Macs in the corporate world, the growth of netbooks, and the shift toward virtualization require management tools that can support a variety of clients, according to Forrester.

·         Explore client virtualization to accelerate the deployment of Windows 7. Companies facing the cost and complexity of upgrading third-party applications and recoding in-house programs should consider application and desktop virtualization as alternatives to traditional PC-installed software. Around one-third of the early Windows 7 adopters used some type of client virtualization to speed up their deployments of the new OS. Many also look upon virtualization as more than just a temporary workaround but as the future of the corporate PC.

·         Don’t overthink training, but shrink the delivery time and get creative. Windows 7 doesn’t provide a vastly different environment over Vista or even XP, and many users already run Vista or Windows 7 at home. So Forrester doesn’t believe a large effort on training is warranted. But IT folks still need to offer some type of training, especially for users who may have trouble adjusting to change. IT should also tailor training to different user segments and offer training in a variety of formats, including blogs, wikis, podcasts, and videos.

Forrester’s advice is sound and worth keeping in mind as you plan your Windows 7 migration. To Forrester’s suggestions I would add one of my own. Be sure to include peripherals in your hardware compatibility testing, especially if you’re upgrading from Windows XP. Manufacturers may not offer Windows 7 drivers for older printers, scanners, and other hardware. If you don’t find Windows 7 drivers for certain peripherals, try testing with the Windows Vista drivers. If those doesn't work, then it may be time to refresh some of those older peripherals with newer models.