Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Is Windows 7 Ready for Enterprise Deployment?

Is Windows 7 Ready for Enterprise Deployment?

This past week, I gave a web presentation called "Is Windows 7 Ready for Enterprise Use?" The presentation was part of a wider virtual conference called Smart IT Sessions, hosted by Keystone Learning. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet also presented, and in fact she's gave two presentations, including the keynote. Here's the official description of my talk:

Is Windows 7 Ready for Enterprise Use?
This session will cover the new features, secrets, and tips for Microsoft’s latest operating system, as well as evaluate Windows 7’s place in the enterprise organization. Is Windows 7 ready for immediate deployment? Enterprises generally like to wait, but with most running on a creaky, Windows XP-based infrastructure, now just might be the time. We’ll examine the TCO benefits of migrating to Windows 7 as well as look at the new features and improvements that will delight users and IT admins alike. We’ll also touch on the “better together” scenarios that are fulfilled when you add Windows Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 releases to the mix as well.

What was interesting about this, to me, is that in researching the topic I came to a surprising conclusion. Windows 7, I discovered, was indeed ready for immediate enterprise deployment, and this represents the first time, I believe, that any new version of Windows could be described in that fashion so emphatically at launch. Windows Vista, by contrast, ran poorly on the hardware that businesses had deployed at the time, and had various software and hardware compatibility issues at launch. None of that is true with Windows 7.

This is the second time this year that I've prepared for a Microsoft-oriented presentation, and had gone into it with a preconceived notion about the conclusion, only to discover that the reality was quite different from what I had expected. (The first involved Microsoft's cloud computing strategy, which I had assumed was ill-conceived but later found to be quite complete and competitive.) In any event, if you missed the presentation, I'll present it here in screenshot form. An On Demand version should be available soon as well.

Is Windows 7 Ready for Enterprise Deployment?

--Paul Thurrott
September 25, 2009

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Is Windows 7 Ready for Enterprise Deployment?

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