Microsoft urges XP business users to migrate to Windows 7 instead of waiting on Windows 8

By Tom Warren, on 12th Oct 11 5:28 pm with 44 Comments

Windows 7

Microsoft is urging Windows XP business users to carry on migrating to Windows 7 instead of waiting on Windows 8.

The software maker penned a blog post on Monday celebrating 10 years of Windows XP by urging XP users to move to Windows 7. Around 90% of businesses are committed to migrating away from Windows XP and Office 2003 to modern software such as Windows 7 and Office 2010, according to Microsoft. “Windows XP and Office 2003 will no longer be supported after April, 2014 which leaves little time for you to upgrade your PC fleet,” says Microsoft’s Rich Reynolds in a blog post on Monday.

Microsoft cites a Gartner report from September entitled “Don’t change your Windows 7 plans because of Windows 8.” The report suggests it would be dangerous for businesses to attempt to skip Windows 7 and move directly to Windows 8. “Organizations running Windows XP and working on Windows 7 migrations: Continue as planned; do not switch to Windows 8,” says Gartner. The advice follows concerns that businesses will not find the time to upgrade to Windows 8 by the April 2014 cut off point for mainstream support. “So, now is the time to accelerate your Windows 7 Enterprise deployments and consider an Office 2010 deployment at the same time,” says Reynolds. “Moving to Windows 7 and Office 2010 will make your employees more productive and secure today and will get you ready for the future.”

Gartner believes that 42% of all PCs worldwide will run Windows 7 by the end of the year. The company’s research also indicates that 94% of new PCs will ship with Windows 7 in 2011. By the end of 2011, nearly 635 million new PCs worldwide are expected to be shipped with Windows 7. Microsoft recently revealed that it has shipped over 450 million licences of Windows 7. The figures are a testament to the popularity of Microsoft’s latest operating system. Despite the impressive stats, Microsoft is pushing ahead towards Windows 8. The company unveiled its “reimagined” Windows 8 last month. The new interface features a Start Screen with identical styling to the company’s Windows Phone software. Microsoft is planning to allow application developers to create Metro style apps that interact with the Start Screen and operating system. Microsoft’s unique approach will also provide rich and easy integration across applications for developers. Microsoft is expected to make Windows 8 available on ARM and Intel based tablets in mid-2012.

  • http://www.andrewseymour.co.uk/ Andrew Seymour

    I can see why they’d want to wait, if Windows 8 is next year in terms of a release date – they buy Windows 7 licenses now, and then have to buy Windows 8 licenses again next year? For some businesses, that can be a costly process, especially when it comes to the education sector that have a huge cut in the amount of money they are able to spend just on IT now – the NHS, most schools, some businesses are still using XP, it seems the corporate sectors are stuck in some XP IT world. Maybe it will take Windows 8 for them to finally perform the migration process.

    • Anonymous

      Why would those business have to buy Windows 8 licenses next year if they buy Windows 7 now? Please explain your logic.

    • http://www.andrewseymour.co.uk/ Andrew Seymour

      Do you think they get Windows licenses for free? If they bought Windows 7 licenses this year, they’d have to buy them again next year for Windows 8. This all costs money for businesses.

    • Anonymous

      Are you telling me that business have to pay an annual OS license fee to MSFT? I thought you pay once and you’re done!

    • http://www.andrewseymour.co.uk/ Andrew Seymour

      @ArrowSmith:disqus It really depends on the size of the company, what agreement they’ve made, how many licenses they’re purchasing etc.. It’s really difficult to say, I’d say though that the small to medium sizes company’s will be hit the hardest though by the cost.

    • http://twitter.com/simoncabron Simon Cabron

      ArrowSmith, licenses aren’t paid yearly, they’re paid per OS install. Andrew Seymour is saying if they’re upgrading from XP to Win 7, there’s a license fee involved. Then when upgrading from Win7 to Win8, there’s another licensing fee.

    • Anonymous

      So why upgrade to Windows 8 until 2015-2016? If these business are going to be upgrading to Windows 7 now, then that’s good for 4-5 years.

    • Dodgingtrollbuster

      Hey Arrow, did you find that link yet to the forum where users were criticizing the Titan’s screen? Just wonderin….

  • Anonymous

    Makes sense considering from now until whenever Windows 8 is released. Microsoft cannot sell it, businesses do not ‘wait’ they grab what is AVAILABLE on the market, not what is going to be. 

    So Windows 7 it is, until Windows 8 arrives.

    • Test1ngi23

      Good point. Didn’t think of that! /s

  • Anonymous

    Windows 8 is gonna to be so flipping awesome!

  • Aa

    Education sector just pay for penauts anyway

  • Anonymous

    Haha – of course MSFT needs profits NOW, not in a year.

    • Anonymous

      And what company doesn’t?  Does Apple want people to hold off on buying an iPhone 4S because they are anticipating iPhone 5?  Does Intel want people to hold off on Sandy Bridge until Ivy Bridge comes out?  Thank you for your analysis.

    • Penta2100

      I can’t wait for Ivy bridge to come out. I want to buy an IMac with it. Then put Windows 8 or 7 on it.
      *I love windows but Apple makes better quality products and higher end specs then most companies out there.

    • Anonymous

      Their quality is good, but the specs are usually middle of the road. Since they upgrade their devices once a year, their products usually end up having lower specs than the competition and the refresh just catches up to the current hardware.

    • Guest

      I am going to do the same thing…
      I love the macbook design but I also love windows 8!
      We are two now… ;)

  • http://twitter.com/s_a_r_k_i_s sarkis chamelian

    They should do the following……Win XP upgrade to Win 7 should be half price and then Win 7 to Win 8 should be half price = Full price of Win 8 licence . . . . simples !  Everybody Happy !!

    • Anonymous

      Uh no. MSFT can’t make their current profits doing stuff like that. They need to ensure at least $6 billion net income per quarter to just keep up with Apple.

    • Guest

      For most organizations software license costs, while not insignificant, are a fraction of an upgrade. Upgrades require inventory of hardware, apps, machine upgrades, distribution, etc. Also, many orgs are on a license whereby upgrades are included in the annual price they pay.

    • Anonymous

      Microsoft doesn’t need a special discount program.  Ending support for XP in 2014 should be the kick in the pants most companies need to get upgrading.

    • Penta2100

      Also they should include Vista users. I feel sorry for them.

  • Anonymous

    BTW – I find it insulting that people think corporations base their Windows/Office upgrade path based on the existing of Windows 8 vaporware. That changes nothing for companies who are already on a path to upgrade.

    • Anonymous

      That “vaporware” is running pretty well on my computer right now.

    • Guest

      That’s because you’re clueless:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect

    • Anonymous

      vaporware? really?MICROSOFT is going to release it next year u dumbass

  • http://twitter.com/alexwilks88 Alex Wilks

    Our uni just upgraded the systems to Windows 7 and they’re all far quicker (and prettier) now. I can’t see much incentive to wait for Windows 8 anyway given the changes and purpose of the systems.

  • Anonymous

    Our company upgraded from XP/Office2003 just a few months ago.  My laptop still runs like crap because of all the shit they put on it, but under XP this thing was unbearable.  It may run counter-intuitive to past Windows upgrades, but going to Windows 7 really does breath some life back into old hardware.

    • Anonymous

      Business class pc usually don’t have much crap loaded on it. Is your company buying consumer class pcs?

    • Anonymous

      I’m talking about the anti-virus, encryption, cisco stuff, and other programs constantly running in the background.  Not saying those things aren’t necessary for security and all, but they sure as hell do bog down my Lenovo laptop with a Core 2 CPU that ought to run a lot faster.

  • Guest

    That only applies if the business upgrades to Windows 8 next year…what business would do that?  Any business with a systems administrator suggesting they perform an OS upgrade again the next year should be looking for a new systems administrator…

    • Anonymous

      No system administrator will be suggesting upgrading to Windows 8 next year. It will take until after April 2014 before system administrators suggest upgrading to Windows 8 and thats the problem Microsoft is trying to avoid.

    • Anonymous

      System Admins usually don’t upgrade the first year a product comes out. They wait a see if their are any bugs and compatibility issues first.

    • http://twitter.com/furdworetzky Fur Dworetzky

      That’s an awfully bold statement and depends largely on the type of organization. There will be some organizations that are small enough that a migration over to Windows 8 next year won’t be completely out of the question.

  • Guest

    Microsux wishes! We don’t WANT Winblows Vista, 7, OR 8! We want XP! How hard is it you you bozos to realize that! Face it, Microsux is DEAD! DEAD. Period. Go back to supporting XP, and QUIT FORCING US TO UPGRADE! You’ll be gone in ten years time anyway, after which, we can all embrace APPLE!

    • Anonymous

      You seem a little young to be posting your opinions online.  Go back to school and learn some grammar.

    • Googbox

      LOL~u have fun?

    • Anonymous

      Lol, did you forget to take some sort of medication?

    • Guest

      This goes to prove that the people that use Apple products are as simple as Apple themself. They have no ability to handle real task, no ability to handle real computing.

    • Anonymous

      I’m more inclined to believe apple will be closer to gone in 10 years than microsoft.  iOS5 and iPhone 4s? incremental upgrades.  Mango and second wave windows phone hardware? much more significant.

    • Anonymous

      Billions of dollars in revenue every year, yet you think MS is dead. You can continue to use XP. No one is forcing you to change. You just won’t have anymore updates after 2014. However. W7 has been great and you are being foolish for not updating to a better more secure OS.

    • Guest

      Congratulations on hitting all expected troll SOP points:

      Modify Microsoft’s name. Check.
      Modify Windows name. Check.
      Condescending. Check.Arrogant. Check.
      Ignorant. Check.
      Stuck on CAPs LOCK. Check.
      Predict MS’s demise. Check.
      Praise Apple. Check.

    • http://twitter.com/furdworetzky Fur Dworetzky

      Windows XP is as old as Mac OS 10.1. Do you think Apple should go back to that?
      Windows XP was a good operating system at the time, but now it’s security model is dangerously bad when compared to not only Microsoft’s newer operating systems, but all new operating systems in general.

  • Anonymous

    Upgrade to an inferior dumbed down OS? No thanks, XP is the BEST.