Skipping Vista? Take Precautions, Says MicrosoftSkipping Vista? Take Precautions, Says Microsoft

Businesses should use Windows Vista as a proxy to test Windows 7 compatibility, Microsoft said Wednesday, releasing formal guidance on how customers should sort out the array of Windows operating systems on the market as they think about their upgrade cycles.

Windows 7 is in public beta and a final release is expected sometime this year. Many companies, though, continue to resist upgrading to Windows Vista -- even though Microsoft will soon release Vista's second service pack -- instead opting to downgrade newly delivered PCs to Windows XP.

With Windows 7 based largely on the major architectural changes made in Windows Vista, it's critical that Microsoft make the transition to Windows 7 easier than the rocky start Vista had, and that's no easy task with three Windows versions floating about.

Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft's senior director of Windows product management, admits she hears plenty of consternation from businesses these days. "I'm finally ready for Vista, but oh my gosh, now you've released the Windows 7 beta," companies tell her, Schuster said in an interview. "What are you doing to me?" With that in mind, Microsoft is trying to stay ahead of the game by issuing formal guidance for business upgrades.

If companies are holding off because they have to do significant compatibility testing, they're still going to have to do that work if they move straight to Windows 7 from XP, Schuster noted. However, there's going to be a very high degree of compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7. Since Windows Vista is in production and supported by Microsoft, and Windows 7 is still in beta, Microsoft says any company looking to move from XP to Windows 7 should do compatibility testing on Vista.

Not that Microsoft recommends skipping Windows Vista entirely, as some organizations are opting to do. A recent Forrester report found 15% of companies thinking about making the XP to Windows 7 leap. However, upon the release of Windows 7, Schuster warns, some software companies may no longer be supporting Windows XP and won't yet be supporting Windows 7. "It's not so much whether it will run on Windows 7, but whether they'll support it," she said.

She also said companies that continue to downgrade new PCs to Windows XP are wasting money. Every time they remove an operating system and install a new one, that's another touchpoint companies have with user PCs, and that's time and money wasted that could be spent on other strategic IT projects.

She also points to features such as laptop encryption, diagnostics, and image management in the enterprise versions of Vista that can't be found in XP as reasons to start upgrades to Vista now.

Microsoft lays out four scenarios for companies. First, slow-moving companies still on Windows 2000 should be moving to XP or Vista today, Microsoft says. All Windows 2000 support will end next July.

Companies in the midst of Windows Vista deployments should stay on that path, according to Microsoft's guidance. Those undecided whether to upgrade to Vista or wait for Windows 7 should analyze their hardware upgrade plans, begin thinking about application compatibility now, and use that to help them make their decisions.

Companies who are set on waiting for Windows 7 should at least test the beta and do application compatibility testing with both Vista and Windows 7 to start planning their deployments now, Microsoft says.

For more on what's coming in Windows 7, check out information Reports' analysis of the beta. Microsoft says its next operating system will be lighter, simpler, and faster. We take a first look and analyze whether it's living up to the initial billing.