Windows7How

Upgrade to Windows 7 or Not?

October 19, 2009

When a new operating system is released by Microsoft, many individuals and businesses will often think very hard about whether or not to upgrade. When Windows Vista arrived, several professionals looked at the hardware requirements and nearly had to be taken to an ER; the requirements were so high that many organizations would have to upgrade every PC in their inventory. That is an expensive proposition! After some time passed and the reviews came in on Vista, those same professionals realized that they had made the right decision.

So, what about Windows 7? Well, research on the IT industry has said that only 16% of IT professionals plan to upgrade within 12 months of its release. That’s not a good sign at first glance. However, the major reason for their reluctance has little to do with the OS itself, but is based on the current economic environment. That might indicate that, if profits get better and the economy sees an upturn, more IT departments will upgrade to Windows 7 than did to Vista. Microsoft may have another Windows XP for us, and people do like XP.

If you are going to upgrade then, there are many things to keep in mind. First of all, you will not be able to directly upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows XP. It is possible to use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (2010 – for Windows 7) to pull your settings off of XP and then apply them to Windows 7 after you do a complete install. Upgrading from Vista is a piece of cake as long as you at least have Service Pack 1 installed.

Addressing the previously mentioned hardware requirements would be a good idea as well. With every OS, we seem to see another huge jump in the needed hardware to run the thing. And with Windows 7, we also have a new set of requirements. However, this is actually decent news. The Windows 7 hardware specifications are not that far off of what was needed for Windows Vista. Chances are that if you can run Vista on your system, W7 will give you no problems.

Driver issues were another problem with Windows Vista which sidelined many users’ peripherals. Vista even introduced a new display driver model, and that was a serious change. In Windows 7, the kernel is not very different from Vista, so drivers which worked in the older OS should work in the newest version. There will be exceptions, of course, but there are workarounds for this – just look up Compatibility Mode.

As for the application selection, most of what worked in Vista will also work in Windows 7. It is always a good idea to make sure, though. An interesting point we hear from Microsoft is that some application which would not run in Vista will run in Windows 7. Even if your application of choice does not work in W7, there is always Compatibility Mode. If that does not allow your application to work – and it worked well in Windows XP – it will likely run in XP Mode. This is an add-on which comes with the higher versions of Windows 7 (Professional, Ultimate) for free and acts as a virtualization engine. It will even allow you to launch an XP-only application from within Windows 7.

The areas to watch for when choosing whether to do this upgrade or not are not to be taken lightly. But, you should not be put off by them either. There are good reasons to upgrade. Windows 7 has many big improvements in design, stability and security. The only real question you need to answer for yourself is when you will do it. This is said due to the fact that Windows XP is no longer covered as free support from Microsoft; yes, security updates will be available until 2014, but you will have to pay to have major issues solved. If you have Vista, it is less of a need and – probably – more of a want given that this is essentially a major Vista update. Either way, you will end up using Windows 7 if you buy a PC, so get to know it – I bet you’ll like it.

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Tags: service pack, support, toolkit, upgrade, upgrade option, virtualization, vista, w7, win 7, windows 7 service pack, xp, xp mode