Businesses Don't Need to Wait for Win 7 SP1
The IT departments, any new version of software is an unknown quantity--particularly an operating system.
Businesses have typically waited until after the first service pack release of Windows before upgrading, sometimes for reasons related to ‘first release bugs’ or compatibility issues. But research firm Gartner believes that no such waiting is required for Windows 7. That said, most businesses’ implementation schedules run long enough that Microsoft has usually already released SP1 even if firms planned to adopt the new OS as soon as possible.
“The first Service Pack for Windows 7 is not necessary for the operating system's stability and security readiness,” asserted Gartner’s Michael A. Silver. “However, organizations likely won't be ready to deploy Windows 7 before SP1 ships, so they will include it in their initial deployments.
“Windows 7 is an incremental update to Windows Vista, but many independent software vendors (ISVs) will not support their applications running on it for six to 12 months or more. Service Pack 1 (SP1) should be released well before organizations are ready to deploy Windows 7, so they should plan to integrate SP1.”
Silver added that SP1 does not represent the milestone it used to--calling it a “Bogus milestone for OS readiness in general”--and that the bigger beta testing group helps to ensure a more stable and compatible product. The Windows 7 beta is reported to have a testing pool more than five times larger than that of Windows 95.
While overall Windows 7 is regarded as a stable and safe upgrade for businesses, one area that Gartner cautions is the built-in browser. As more companies begin to rely on applications that run from within a browser, the addition of a new version--in this case Internet Explorer 8--adds a completely new layer of compatibility concerns.
In fact, we discovered earlier this week that some users of the new Internet Explorer 8 have reverted back to version 7 for the very reason of compatibility.
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- 7 ,
- sp1 ,
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- enterprise
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Hey Gartner, get real:
IE8 is out now, and until the release of W7 (Jan. 2010) there still is enough time for both testing it and changing websites.
IE has had (and I guess will have also in the future) some issues. But to talk about it as "a completely new layer of compatibility concers" is way exagerated!
"The Windows 7 beta is reported to have a testing pool more than five times larger than that of Windows 95."
That doesn't really sound that bigger increase!
Having used win7 beta since its release and never looked back, I would think that there would be no need for a service pack in the near future.
I have found very few issues with the Os itself, most of my programs and applications run perfectly,and to be quite honest, they run much better, smoother and much more lively.
The only issues I found are software related with some incompatability with mobile phones etc.
These however are issues to be dealt with by other manufacturers and not Microsoft.
I could have full compatability with all software if I so choose, but thaat means 'downgrading' to Vista and the stuff of nightmares I suffered under that platform.
I and certainly not prepared to do that, even though I paid through the nose for it at the time.
I have no siginificant problems using win 7 at thome, more than 90% of all programs which I wanna use run prefectly.
Some bugs, I do feel but not critical.
SP1 with more than only collection of upgrades is stil needed and please don't release it late, 10 months to 1 year after the official non-RC release is actually already a good time.