Six out of ten firms have no plans to roll out Windows 7

 

Gallery

By Barry Collins

Posted on 13 Jul 2009 at 07:49

Almost six out of ten businesses say they have made no plans to deploy Windows 7.

Despite the imminent arrival of the new operating system and the fact that many businesses already decided to skip Vista, only 34% of the businesses surveyed by Scriptlogic said they planned to deploy Windows 7 by the end of 2010.

A mere 5.4% said they would have rolled out the new operating system by the end of this year.

The good news for Microsoft is that it's the state of the economy rather than the quality of the software that appears to be deterring most businesses.

When asked to reveal the biggest barrier to Windows 7 deployment, 42% claimed time and resources were the deciding factor.

A significant 39% raised questions over application compatibility, which suggests that Windows 7's new XP Mode has done little to allay fears about the continued operation of legacy software.

Only 8.4% expressed concerns about the operating system itself or the migration path.

The survey canvassed the views of more than 1,000 businesses in the US, one of which was Middlesex Hospital in Connecticut, which said it would be waiting for SP1 to arrive.

"The IT department must complete thorough testing to ensure that the applications we rely on each day, specifically radiology information systems and financial applications, will be compatible, before deploying any new platforms or software to our 1,500 desktops," claimed senior technician Sean Angus.

To find out if Windows 7 is right for your business, read this month's PC Pro, on sale now