Why go Windows 7?

19 November 2009

Tarsus' Acer PM takes a closer look at what the channel and its customers should know

The shipping date for Windows 7 is upon us and there's still a ton of confusion in the technology channel as to what customers should know and what the primary reasons to upgrade are.

"The good news is that market experts seem convinced that Windows 7 is going to be a winner," says Shane Krog, Acer desktop product manager at Tarsus."

"Furthermore," Krog says, "the confusion in the market is perfectly normal, considering the pain experienced with the adoption and subsequent support of Windows Vista through its stabilisation.

"However, resellers need to know that Windows 7 is a very different animal," he says, "and having tested it internally for some months now, there's absolutely no doubt in Tarsus' mind that a swift migration to the new operating system is the best route to follow."

But what benefits should resellers and their customers be aware of as they formalise their plans?

"The benefits that Windows 7 brings to the table can be divided into three categories; namely that it works better, allows users to be more efficient and improves security," says Krog.

"Under the topic of 'works better'," Krog says, "the process of connecting to wired and wireless networks has been streamlined, the sharing of data has been simplified with home-groups and users largely being able to support themselves through troubleshooting issues with 'Action Centre'.

"The most compelling benefit under the 'works better' banner is undoubtedly the fact that customers can run legacy applications in a separate XP-mode, which actually boots up a separate instance of Windows XP under the Windows 7 hood," Krog says.

"We see this as one of the primary reasons to consider the OS," he adds.

Under the banner of 'more efficiency', Krog says, "Microsoft has streamlined and extended its desktop search, allowing files and applications to be easily located; brought a feature called 'Libraries' into the equation to centralise access to music, pictures, video and other documents; substantially overhauled the way its operating system behaves visually; and made it perform better with older hardware.

"The most important benefit comes last, however, and Windows 7's improved stability and security is a good enough reason to move on its own," says Krog.

"Simple to use backup tools, built-in encryption that simply has to be enabled and the ability to roll a file-version back using the aptly-named 'previous versions' feature rank highly on the list of security and stability features that enterprises should be considering.

"The overall stability of the operating system in practice, evidenced by the fact that we experienced far less system crashes, no data loss and better application behavior during our testing is the clincher though," says Krog.

"New features are great, however, there's simply no substitute for the improved stability of the operating system - and we're counting on that factor to drive confidence back into the market," he concludes.