Gartner: Upgrade to Windows 7 now, remove Windows XP by 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Given the positive reviews Microsoft Windows 7 are getting, Gartner Inc., a top business research firm, now highly recommends that organizations start planning and testing Windows 7 this year and, at the same time, begin removing Windows XP by the end of 2012.

Gartner’s advice is mainly targeted at companies that didn’t migrate to Windows Vista but must soon decide to move to Windows 7 not only because it’s been established as a more stable and better operating system but also because Windows XP is simply old.

“In various Gartner polls and surveys, 80 percent of respondents report skipping Windows Vista. With Windows XP getting older and Windows 8 nowhere in sight, organizations need to be planning their migrations to Windows 7,” Michael Silver, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, said in a statement.

“Windows 7 has been getting positive reviews, and many clients report that they have plans to start their production deployments, but there are some that are still undecided about when to start and how quickly to do the migration,” Silver added.

Gartner analysts said organizations need to decide when to begin their migration to Windows 7, set a target date to have Windows XP out, and decide whether to deploy Windows 7 to all PCs, only to new PCs, or to a mix.

Once organizations have decided when to do it, their next decision should be how to do it. Gartner said companies can do an all-at-once “forklift” approach, or over time, through attrition as they slowly replace their PC resources.

Gartner believes that organizations need to get Windows XP out before Microsoft ends support for it in April 2014, and if possible, they should eliminate it by the end of 2012 when new versions of many applications are not expected to support XP, and independent software vendors (ISVs) will increasingly eliminate XP support.

Gartner analysts estimate that most organizations taking the forklift approach will need 12 to 18 months for planning, testing and piloting of Windows 7.

Those taking the attrition approach should take into account when ISVs will provide sufficient Windows 7 support for their applications and when they will have enough time to test applications, build images and pilot Windows 7, said Steve Kleynhans, Gartner research vice president.

This approach, Gartner analysts explain, will immediately identify the timeframe for the Windows 7 migration but would likely delay organizations in easing out Windows XP based on their typical PC refresh rate.