Never heard of any of these companies, and I could care less what any of their CIO's say on this subject.
Why not ask the CIO of a Fortune 500 company?
CIO Jury: Let's wait on Windows 7
Summary
Windows 7 may be generating its fair share of hype but CIOs are planning to take a cautious approach towards rolling out the operating system.
Topics
Windows 7 may be generating its fair share of hype but CIOs are planning to take a cautious approach towards rolling out the operating system.
In the latest silicon.com CIO Jury, which asked IT chiefs whether they're planning to roll out Windows 7 in 2010, just one of the 12 Jury members said they're considering it. Windows 7 is expected to be available later this year.
Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director for publisher Hachette Filipacchi, won't be deploying Windows 7 for at least 18 months.
See also: Special Report: Windows 7 nears the finish line
"For heaven's sake, you must be joking [about a 2010 roll out]! We'll look at it and understand it, but I can't think we'll consider this sort of implementation until 2011 earliest," he said.
Florentin Albu, ICT manager at Eumetsat (European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), said his organization would not be rolling out Windows 7 in launch year if it can be avoided.
"I believe the standalone, user operating system becomes less and less relevant in a corporate environment. It is more difficult to justify the cost of the upgrade unless dependencies coming from the line-of-business applications are an issue," he said.
Last month, analysts advised businesses that haven't yet begun a Vista deployment to jump straight to Windows 7 and it seems CIOs' reluctance to embrace Windows 7 hasn't translated into a reprieve for Windows Vista.
Schroders CIO Matthew Oakeley said: "2010 is too soon. We would, however, be looking to skip Vista."
Peter Birley, director of IT at law firm Browne Jacobson, agreed, saying: "We are likely to jump Vista and go to Windows 7 but we may hang on until 2011."
Jacques René, CTO of aerospace consultancy Ascend, added his company is planning to stick with Windows XP for as long as there is support available as part of a desktop virtualization program.
Just one member of the CIO Jury said they are planning to move to Windows 7 and even then, only if the appropriate drivers to support the organisation systems are in place. "Other than that we'll stay put," he said.
This CIO Jury was:
- Florentin Albu, ICT manager, Eumetsat
- Alastair Behenna, CIO, Harvey Nash
- Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director, Hachette Filipacchi
- Peter Birley, director of IT, Browne Jacobson LLP
- Paul Haley, director of information technology, Directorate of Information Technology
- Madhushan Gokool, IT manager, Storm Model Management
- John Keeling, CIO, John Lewis
- Rob Neil, head of ICT and customer services, Ashford Borough Council
- Matthew Oakeley, CIO, Schroders
- David Pirie, group IT director, BCA Group
- Mike Roberts, IT director, The London Clinic
- Jacques René, CTO, Ascend
Talkback Most Recent of 32 Talkback(s)
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Unix Pimp10th Jun 2009 -
Why use only F500 companies as reference?
Kind of odd. The majority of computers are used in non-F500 companies. The majority of people who use computers are working in non-F500 companies.
So, what is your reason to dismiss the opinions of non-F500-CIOs?
Also, why would you assume that you need to - or are expected to - know all non-F500 companies?
nizuse10th Jun 2009 -
You do know there are countries with companies outside of your own, right?
Whilst the F500 do give is one perspective of IT, their IT departments are generally relatively well funded and staffed.
It's often interesting to listen and learn about the perspectives of one's intended customers when planning when to adopt a given technology or platform. I imagine that many software and hardware vendors have read this report with interest, and will incorporate its findings into their product planning to make sure that they're offering product that supports the needs of the majority of their customers.
FWIW, most of the companies listed are major names in Europe - y'know, that place on the other side of the Atlantic? The one with a larger (and far more diverse) population than the US?
de-void-2116559065030180600283633778702310th Jun 2009 -
I'm sure they've never heard of you either...
... but I'll bet the Fortune 500 would give you pretty much the same responses. I've met a few and they think along these same lines.
914four28th Jul 2009 -
This is no surprise.
It would be foolish to roll out a new OS to an organization without testing.
ye10th Jun 2009 -
Especially with Microsoft's history of releasing way too early.
People have finally gotten wise.
fr0thy210th Jun 2009 -
Agreed with test...so
So why have these organizations not been testing Windows 7. Microsoft gives them an Beta and RC 10 months prior to October 09 release, and all IT orgs have to say is we need "more testing time".
Seems reasonable to me to adopt an OS like Windows 7 in a 6 - 12 month time frame after official release if your IT group is testing the beta and RCs ahead of time.
lundp@...10th Jun 2009 -
Does noone read?
Does nobody here read the full article before posting?!
Ahem:
""I believe the standalone, user operating system becomes less and less relevant in a corporate environment. It is more difficult to justify the cost of the upgrade unless dependencies coming from the line-of-business applications are an issue," he said."
As in, there is no business need for it, so not a justifiable cost AT THE TIME. Also, testing a Beta or RC is stupid as you are going to have to retest the RTM anyway, so thats another waste of money. No large organization in its right mind upgrades OS within 12 months of release unless its doing a major hardware refresh at the same time.
gnesterenko10th Jun 2009 -
we are in a recession, if not depresson. This stuff gets cut out.
The priority is on server/software maintenance, not upgrades that are not absolutely necessary.
If XP still works, then it stays.
Been_Done_Before10th Jun 2009 -
XP doesn't still work
It costs way too freaking much to secure compared
to Windows Vista/7.... way too much. Basically,
Windows XP is a 10 year old OS that was built in
too insecure of a way to be allowed today.... IT'S
TIME FOR IT TO BE RETIRED, no arguments allowed!
Lerianis1024th Jul 2009 -
914four27th Jul 2009
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So you won't mind paying more for your insurance...
...and other services to finance the millions of dollars the hardware alone will cost? Some insurance companies have 40 or 50 thousand desktops; even if they were free the cost to deploy would be in the hundreds of thousands.
Remember that the next time you pay your car/life/heath insurance.914four27th Jul 2009 -
RE: CIO Jury: Let's wait on Windows 7
If these men or possible women, haven't tried the new OS(Windows 7);then it's their lose. I have found this OS to be very "stable",uses less memory,less burdensome on the CPU,looks for and finds solutions for "any" type of program you might be running;and, works "extremely well" with my PC games(old or new). So far, I really can't say anything "bad" or fumbling---like Vista. But, some people that have Vista, I have read really like it. Regardless, if it is a "memory hog" or not.
I believe---IF you haven't tried it---DON'T knock it.
Peace...
jaw6910th Jun 2009 -
Most of these companies will be on XP
As several of them stated - they'll skip Vista and move straight to Win7, but only once it's been proven to be stable and solid and only after they've done the extensive in-house testing necessary to make sure all their internal apps and systems are not negatively impacted by the move to the new OS.
Imagine you were running a company with several thousand people in several tens of locations each running apps created 6-10 years ago written in VB by people who are no longer with the company. Now imagine you move everyone to Win7 (without sufficient testing and training) and some of those critical apps that you use to run your business crash or misbehave.
In an economic climate as trecherous as this one, that could mean the difference between a company living and dying.de-void-2116559065030180600283633778702310th Jun 2009 -
Should test carefully and properly
Most of the people who have tested Windows 7 till now are techies and geeks. Yes, it does start up faster than Vista and seems almost as slick as Ubuntu 9.04, but there are plenty of issues with legacy software and hardware. Even for the consumer market, there are many issues. For example, Logitech web cams a few years old do not work properly, a message asking you to connect your webcam pops up everytime you start up the Windows 7 computer even though it is already connected. Existing printers are another issue. Most consumers and corporates cannot throw away their peripherals or their computers so easily. Hardware upgrades are not cheap either. I know some companies that will either stick to XP till EOL (End of Life) or move to Ubuntu. Windows 7 on existing machines does not give you the slick Aero interface, it looks exactly like Ubuntu which is free.
iRMX10th Jun 2009
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