Windows 7: Compatibility issues slow rollouts

But IT managers feel Windows 7 upgrade is worth the effort...

More than half of businesses moving to the Windows 7 desktop operating system have hit delays with their rollout programmes, according to a survey.

Just over half the 1,360 IT managers who took part in research by Symantec said application incompatibility was the biggest cause of delay. To solve the problem, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they replaced applications.

Other issues that have caused delays to rollouts include problems with budgets, 40 per cent, hardware incompatibility, 39 per cent, pilot test failure, 27 per cent, and other initiatives taking a higher priority, 17 per cent.

The research also found that in general around half of all IT resources are devoted to planning and migrating to Windows 7.

Businesses are finding that migrating to Windows 7 is taking up a lot of IT resources
(Screenshot: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

But despite the teething troubles, the research also found that most IT managers are positive about the benefits of migrating to Windows 7.

Respondents said several areas improved after migration, with 79 per cent saying performance "somewhat or significantly increased", 76 per cent saying the same about user experience and security, 74 per cent for reliability, 69 per cent for ease of use and 66 per cent for end point management.

Many organisations said the migration to Windows 7 also allowed them to implement standardisation, virtual desktops and additional security measures.

Two-thirds of respondents, 67 per cent, said they were migrating to Windows 7 from XP, with 25 per cent moving from Windows Vista and four per cent from Windows 2000.