The closer you are to Windows 7, the more you like it. That’s what supporters of the new operating system say. To them, reports that 60 per cent of IT admins aren’t planning to deploy Microsoft’s newest simply don’t make sense.
“I want Windows 7 — it’s a significant improvement and enables netbooks,” wrote one user, responding to my post yesterday quoting a survey that found widespread antipathy toward the Windows XP and Vista replacement.
“Once Microsoft starts showing off the new deployment tools, that will probably change,” said another of the survey finding. “Windows 7 will be pretty easy to deploy over the wire, easier than Vista was.”
Another responded that while Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista, operating systems aren’t as important as they used to be.
“I run Windows 7 daily, it’s a vast improvement over Vista and does what XP does best: Run on low-end machines,” he wrote. “Is it great? No. Revolutionary No. Better than OS X, maybe not. But, the fact is I spend 90% of my time in the browser anyway, so [I don’t care so much about the OS.]”
This user said his and other users’ browser dependence could work to Google’s favor in whatever OS war might develop.
“Chrome OS has an opening, by mapping to what users actually do with their PCs vs. what Microsoft and Apple tell us we should do.”
I felt the “60 per cent won’t deploy” number was excessive, but still newsworthy in showing how unhappy IT administrators are–still–with Microsoft as a result of the Vista debacle.
It further demonstrates the danger of ever giving customers a reason to question their decision to go with your product in the first place: Some will reconsider and decide not to return.
Microsoft has not done a good job–so far–of communicating the real improvements that Windows 7 embodies, as compared to Vista and, especially, Windows XP.
Until Microsoft makes better points in Windows 7’s favor, I expect to see even more reports of low acceptance, but those will improve over time, provided Microsoft gets it’s message out more effectively than it has done so far.
The generally positive response from real Windows 7 users apparently isn’t reaching the mass of potential customers. This has to happen if Windows 7 is to avoid becoming Vista 2.
Industry veteran David Coursey tweets as @techinciter and can be contacted via his web site.
“Once Microsoft starts showing off the new deployment tools, that will probably change,” said another of the survey finding. “Windows 7 will be pretty easy to deploy over the wire, easier than Vista was.”
Another responded that while Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista, operating systems aren’t as important as they used to be.
“I run Windows 7 daily, it’s a vast improvement over Vista and does what XP does best: Run on low-end machines,” he wrote. “Is it great? No. Revolutionary No. Better than OS X, maybe not. But, the fact is I spend 90% of my time in the browser anyway, so [I don’t care so much about the OS.]”
This user said his and other users’ browser dependence could work to Google’s favor in whatever OS war might develop.
“Chrome OS has an opening, by mapping to what users actually do with their PCs vs. what Microsoft and Apple tell us we should do.”
I felt the “60 per cent won’t deploy” number was excessive, but still newsworthy in showing how unhappy IT administrators are–still–with Microsoft as a result of the Vista debacle.
It further demonstrates the danger of ever giving customers a reason to question their decision to go with your product in the first place: Some will reconsider and decide not to return.
Microsoft has not done a good job–so far–of communicating the real improvements that Windows 7 embodies, as compared to Vista and, especially, Windows XP.
Until Microsoft makes better points in Windows 7’s favor, I expect to see even more reports of low acceptance, but those will improve over time, provided Microsoft gets it’s message out more effectively than it has done so far.
The generally positive response from real Windows 7 users apparently isn’t reaching the mass of potential customers. This has to happen if Windows 7 is to avoid becoming Vista 2.
Industry veteran David Coursey tweets as @techinciter and can be contacted via his web site.
