IT Expert Voice

Windows Vista and Windows XP are yesterday’s products, and both will disappear from the marketplace. The good news is that Windows 7 is now the current version. The bad news is that you’re likely stuck with a bunch of Windows XP machines, wondering what to do about it.

Deciding on the right action to take depends on your company, your goals, and your computing infrastructure. If your company hasn’t upgraded its desktop and laptop computers recently and you’re primarily a Windows XP shop, then your problems are different from a company that has been buying new machines as the need arose and as a result have computers that are running Windows Vista, or at least are capable of running Vista.

Either way, the IT decision process doesn’t involve continuing to buy new machines with Windows XP. At some point, Microsoft will phase out support, and before that, you won’t be able to buy new licenses. Already, the ability to buy Windows XP on new computers is limited to some Netbooks and to machines that still have Windows Vista pre-installed and come with Windows XP downgrade support.

So instead of worrying about whether to make the change, the productive approach is to decide how to make the change. The Windows 7 migration path differs for every company, but there are some common scenarios.

Scenario 1: Every computer you have runs Windows XP.

Migration from a Windows XP environment to Windows 7 isn’t trivial. Depending on the hardware and applications on your computers, an upgrade to Windows 7 may be difficult or impossible. On the other hand, it may be possible but inconvenient. But you can be sure of one thing: It’s not going to be as simple as simply popping in a DVD and clicking the “Install” button.

Your first step in the process is to download and run Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. This tool analyzes your hardware and software to determine whether Windows 7 will run on the machine it’s testing, and provides a report of what you must do to make the computer compatible.

On an older Windows XP system, you’re likely to find that a hardware upgrade such as more memory or a different processor is required. On others, you’ll find that the compatibility issues are limited to making sure to run Windows Update after installation to get the latest drivers. If you have computers that were sold with Windows Vista which you downgraded to XP, then it’s a safe bet that they’ll run Windows 7, but you should still run the Upgrade Advisor.

On older equipment that requires hardware upgrades, your best choice may be to simply schedule them for replacement, and then buy new computers with Windows 7 on your normal replacement cycle, or perhaps on an accelerated schedule if you need Windows 7’s improved security and stability.

It’s important to note that you cannot upgrade directly from Windows XP to Windows 7, so even if you choose to beef up your computers, you still have to do a clean install, and then reinstall your applications and data.

As you can see, the effort required to perform the upgrade – installing new hardware in the computer, backing up the old data, performing the install and then restoring the applications and data – is considerable. Even if new hardware add-ons aren’t all that expensive, the labor required is certain to exceed the cost of a new computer.

With computers delivered with Windows Vista and then downgraded, the story is a little different. It is possible to do an in-place upgrade to Windows Vista from Windows XP, and then, once all of the Windows Updates are done, do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7. There is less labor involved, and you don’t need to buy anything.

Scenario 2: You’ve been migrating to Vista as you bought new computers.

Chances are your Windows Vista machines will support an in-place upgrade to Windows 7, although you should run the Upgrade Advisor to be sure. You should know that it’s fairly certain you’ll have to reinstall some device drivers, but (with the exception of a hard disk controller that isn’t compatible with Windows 7) you can get the new device drivers after you upgrade the operating system. In the case of the hard disk controller, you may need to download the right driver before the install, and have it available on a CD for use during the install process.

What’s that about drivers? I’ve found in a couple of instances that the existing hard disk controller wasn’t supported natively by Windows 7. In a situation like that the install will fail unless you go to the support web site of your hard disk maker and download the drivers first so you’ll have them available. When you’re asked during the installation process, you can feed the CD with the drivers into your computer, Windows will load them, and you’ll be set. The Upgrade Advisor will alert you when this is necessary and will tell you what to do.

Your computers without Windows Vista are probably four or five years old, and you can plan to move to Windows 7 as you retire them. Microsoft makes a migration tool that lets you transfer settings and data to a new Windows 7 machine.

Scenario 3: You have a mix of computers of various brands and vintages, and there’s no record of what is actually running where.

A lot of companies are suffering through this scenario. This might be the time to decide that some structure is necessary to keep from wasting money through an unplanned and unmanaged IT environment, and simply start planning to replace all but the newest machines. You might also want to invest in a suite of enterprise management tools so that you can find out what you have, and where it is.

As far as moving to Windows 7 is concerned, you’re probably somewhere in between the first two scenarios. But if you’re still in the world that runs Windows 98 or Windows 2000, then it’s time to move to the 21st century. You’re running machines that are unsupported, insecure, unstable and that hurt your employee productivity. It’s time to talk to your CFO about why your operational expenses and total cost of ownership need attention, and why security is important because it helps him keep his job and stay out of jail.

What Version to Choose

If you’re buying your computers from a source that sells to businesses, the machines you are offered will come with either Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate. You don’t want the home versions of Windows even if it is cheaper. Business versions of Windows have better security, and they include better support for legacy applications originally designed for Windows XP.

You can also choose Windows 7 Enterprise, which is a version of Windows 7 Professional available to customers subscribing to Microsoft’s Software Assurance plan. Software Assurance also includes the availability of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, a set of tools designed to support management, deployment, and virtualization. Windows 7 Enterprise includes security and management features such as the ability to control what applications are allowed to run and how data is encrypted on external storage devices. It includes branch office caching and enterprise search.

How to Choose

What’s most critical is that you have a migration plan. While it’s possible to hang on to Windows XP for a while, migration to a new operating system will become necessary eventually. It’s a lot easier, and probably cheaper, to plan ahead and do the upgrade in a way that makes sense to your operations, and then choose which machines to upgrade and when to make the switch.

Unless you plan to simply replace everything, the best financial sense is to start with computers that are already due for replacement. You’ll see an immediate gain in productivity once the switch is made because you’ll have fewer support requests. You can then proceed to replace systems on a planned replacement schedule. On the other hand, it’s difficult to justify the expense of upgrading the hardware inside the computers. It’ll cost more money, take more time, and the outcome will be less certain. And these days, who needs that?

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