The nation's largest telco Telstra this week revealed it intended to upgrade its tens of thousands of desktop computers to Windows 7 and would start testing Microsoft's operating system when it was released.
The nation's largest telco Telstra this week revealed it
intended to upgrade its tens of thousands of desktop computers to
Windows 7 and would start testing Microsoft's operating system when
it was released.
(Credit: Renai LeMay/ZDNet.com.au)
Like most Australian groups the telco skipped Microsoft's
Windows Vista platform and currently uses Windows XP
(Service Pack 2) for its desktop standard operating environment.
Telstra is one of the largest Australian organisations of any kind,
with around 45,000 employees listed in its last annual report,
although that number is gradually heading south.
"We have the intention to migrate to Windows 7 and propose to do
formal testing once Windows 7 has been released," the telco's chief
architect of Technology Architecture Strategy and Planning Clive Webber told
ZDNet.com.au in an emailed statement this week.
We have the intention to migrate to Windows 7 and propose to do
formal testing once Windows 7 has been released
Telstra executive Clive Webber
Microsoft's latest opus is widely expected to be released in the
second half of 2009, although Redmond has not yet set a launch date
for the software. On 9 January this year, the first official beta
of Windows 7 was released to general praise from reviewers and the
public, and a release candidate is expected on 5 May.
"We have not formally tested Windows 7, however, there have been
a number of informal testers all providing positive feedback,"
Webber added. The executive said Windows XP had reached "end of
life" as a product, noting Windows 7 was expected to provide
improved stability, security and user experience functionality as
well as lower support costs.
The comments echo those of welfare agency Centrelink earlier
this month, which has also been testing Windows 7 and said early
versions of the software displayed a "significant improvement over
the performance and quality of Vista". Centrelink also has
long-term plans to migrate to Windows 7.
However, not all large Australian organisations are so keen;
other federal departments such as the Australian Taxation Office
and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship are yet to test
Windows 7, while the Department of Defence and the Australian
Customs and Border Protection Service — one of the only major
Australian organisations to adopt Vista — both claim to have no
plans to migrate to Windows 7.
