With any new OS deployment, IT teams traditionally take the "safe" route and wait for the first service pack. But IT groups that follow that strategy with Windows 7 rollouts will get caught in a support crunch, says research firm Gartner
Predictions from analysts and virtualization vendors that desktop virtualization will take off during 2010 may be off the mark. Sales may take off, but the desktop PC may not have much to do with it.
Windows 7 upgrades will be a cinch for most users who are now running Vista. But with older Windows XP PCs, it could get dicey, fast. Here's a no-nonsense Windows 7 upgrade guide covering pricing, installation options and that whole 32-bit versus 64-bit issue.
It's the best of times if you're a lover of operating systems, with the nearly simultaneous release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" (available right now) and Microsoft's Windows 7 (available Oct. 22). This leads to the inevitable debate: Which is the better operating system, Windows 7 or Snow Leopard?
German automobile maker BMW is many things: Manufacturer of luxury cars and motorcycles; a brand name famous around the world; a giant corporation with a reputation for efficiency.
The release of the next version of Mac OS X, also known as Snow Leopard, is by all accounts a minor update with few new user features. Even Apple calls most of the changes in the OS UI refinements that will occur "under the hood."
For companies eager to upgrade to Windows 7, testing for application compatibility is crucial for a smooth deployment. But OS testing is a well-known IT time and resource drain that requires additional hardware and significant IT staff attention.
Outrage spread like wildfire across the Internet this week with criticism of Microsoft's alleged new upgrade process for Windows 7. People were concerned if they wanted to upgrade to Windows 7 they would be required to activate the current version of Windows they were using prior to upgrading.
Windows 7 pre-orders may be burning up the charts, but many users are apparently still reluctant to switch over to Microsoft's newest operating system. This is particularly true for businesses that are a little upgrade-wary after investing in Vista, while others are reluctant to give up on Redmond's classic XP system. Compounding the temptation not to switch was news earlier this year that Microsoft wasn't making life easy for XPers migrating to the new OS.
Microsoft is launching Windows 7, Google has fired back with Chrome OS, and today Microsoft is turning up the volume on Office 2010. That's a lot to juggle, and soon you'll be asking yourself: Can I afford to upgrade or can I afford not to upgrade?
Microsoft has announced that businesses can get Windows 7 a month and a half before the general release date of Oct. 22, but a new survey suggests that many of them may not want it.
Google announced yesterday that it has an open-source operating system for PCs in development that shares the same name as the company's browser: Chrome.
Since the general beta release, Windows 7 has been through the testing ringer and has come out with mostly high marks for its speed, flexibility, user interface (UI) and networking features.
Windows 7 is proving a divisive subject even in its infancy. One example: Last week, reviews from CIO.com's sister sites, Computerworld and InfoWorld, offered radically different opinions about what Microsoft has in store for the successor of Windows Vista, expected to ship in early 2010.
Microsoft is readying its next major release of the Windows operating system. After months of demos, early testing, beta releases, and finally announced launch plans, here's what you can expect in an upgrade.