Two Studies: IT Set to Adopt Windows 7

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Perhaps the belief on the part of Michael Dell and other PC hardware vendors that there is pent-up demand for new PCs isn’t just them trying to sell their wares. Two new analysts’ reports seem to back up their statements.

According to a worldwide survey by Information Technology Intelligence Corp. (ITIC) and Sunbelt Software of 1,500 IT decision makers released Monday, 49 percent said they will migrate to Windows 7 within a year of Thursday’s formal launch.

An additional 11 percent said they will wait for the first service pack before adopting Windows 7. However, only 40 percent say they have no current plans to migrate to the new system, according to ITIC Principal Analyst Laura DiDio, who authored the study.

“The ultimate test will come during the next several months as users widely deploy Windows 7 in production networks,” DiDio’s report said.

That stands in contrast to July, when a survey lofted by systems lifecycle management vendor ScriptLogic found that nearly 60 percent of IT shops had no plans to deploy Windows 7 at all.

Meanwhile, a second survey by Forrester of 653 PC decision-makers at North American and European enterprises and SMBs found that 66 percent either are planning or expecting to move to Windows 7.

Of those, though, only seven percent have specific plans or have already begun to rollout Windows 7. Additionally, another 10 percent have specific plans but will not migrate within the next 12 months, leaving 49 percent who expect to deploy Windows 7 but haven’t begun planning yet.

“Windows 7 will become the new standard for most commercial PCs within 12 months,” said the report, co-authored by analyst Benjamin Gray.

Warmer reception

That’s a far cry from the chilly reception that Windows Vista received when it debuted nearly three years ago.

An earlier study by ITIC, released in December 2008, found that 46 percent of the 700 IT decision makers polled intended to wait for Windows 7 before they migrate off of Windows XP.

Additionally, last spring, Dimensional Research found in its survey of 1,142 IT professionals that 83 percent planned to skip Windows Vista entirely and go straight from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Forrester’s study found that 62 percent of IT shops running XP plan to migrate to Windows 7 while 29 percent haven’t yet figured out what they will do regarding XP migration.

As far as corporate deployment goes, respondents to the Forrester study said that 38 percent will only bring Windows 7 in-house via new PC purchases, while another 28 percent will update most or all PCs capable of running Windows 7.

All in all, it looks like a number of factors are combining to make the outlook pretty good for Windows 7.

Last Friday, for instance, IT solution provider Softchoice released a survey it said shows that some 88 percent of the 450,000 corporate PCs it analyzed between November 2008 and August 2009 are capable of running Windows 7. That should grease the wheels for a smoother migration.

Also last week, a report from Jefferies & Company, predicted that corporate adoption of Windows 7 is likely to begin in earnest sooner rather than later.

“We expect the corporate upgrade cycle to begin in mid-2010,” Jefferies analyst Katherine Egbert said in her report. “Corporate IT spending [is] on the rebound. And it now looks like the Windows 7 cycle is going to be bigger and quicker than most existing estimates,” Egbert added.

Meanwhile, ITIC’s DiDio reported that “an overwhelming 80 percent majority of early adopters and beta users rated their Windows 7 experience “Excellent” or “Very Good.” By comparison, only two percent said that Windows 7’s quality was either “Poor” or “Unsatisfactory,” she added.

“I think they’re [Microsoft] going to do really well here … the sense is that they got it right this time,” DiDio told InternetNews.com.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com.