Microsoft has just announced that business customers will be able to order Windows 7 on September 1 – well before the October 22 general release – and get a discount on the software somewhere in the range of 15 to 35 percent, depending on the size of the order. However, despite the company’s best hopes for Windows 7 in the enterprise, many companies are likely to pass on the system entirely.

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Was this Microsoft's big Monday announcement?

Haha, just kidding. But seriously, what business would just dive right into a new system. How long did it take for XP to take over 2K's dominance? YEARS. Thats right. Its not that unusual.

I work in the IT Dept for a large city government agency - 1,500 PC users. And there is zero, I mean ZERO interest in going beyond XP for at least the next 3 years. Too busy working on upgrading accounting, inventory and maintenance type 3rd-party apps that work just fine with XP. No sense in tempting fate by jumping to something else.

the reason why is that 7 is not that much better functionality-wise than XP, AND less compatible with existing hardware and software. microsoft is lazy and until releases an OS that is a BILLION MILES above XP they are dead in the water because businesses are cheap and it's just not worth the cost.

Not only that je29836, but to implement a new system, especially for large enterprises and government agencies, takes an incredible amount of planning. Putting a disaster recovery plan in place, compatibility testing for all systems 32-64bit, as well as driver testing can take months if not years of planning. Windows 7 would be a great choice for businesses over XP, yet it will take time. tengeta hit the nail on the head.

P.S., Don't be so quick to judge Windows 7 just yet, as the final release won't be out for a few more months.

Most businesses won't upgrade to 7 for years and that's a total 'Duh!'

It's the same reason I see businesses still running Windows 98 -- It runs their proprietary POS software and that's good enough.

There is absolutely nothing Micorosft can improve upon that will make a business' ugly little POS apps work any better.

The University I work at already made the move to Vista so going to Windows 7 will be a small step. We will be testing this year and going to Windows 7 by September 2010 for the new academic year.

Oh, don't worry, Microsoft takes care of themselves when it comes to forcing a newly created revenue stream. My guess is, right at the official launch of Win 7 (or shortly after), suddenly it will be very hard to find any new PC hardware that comes with anything but Win7. It's the same tactic they used to cram Vista down everyone's throats, and the OEMs just hopped on the bandwagon like ******... You could hope that the OEMs learned from that fiasco, but honestly I think MS leads them by their purse strings, with enticements and discounts that the accounting departments can't resist...

It's pretty easy to not have any plans to upgrade or support Win7 anytime soon in an office setting, but as soon as some employees need new hardware, you find that the deck can be stacked against you.

The good news is, the Win7 pre-release is miles above what Vista ever has been, as far as my experience and tests. If it's that good prior to release, there is at least hope for a smooth transition when it is forced on us.

I'm in IT for a company of around 600 users worldwide and we plan on waiting one or two years before pushing Windows 7 and even then it's going to be slow, starting with just allowing it to stay on laptops we buy new. We have been paying the pre-"down"grade fee for XP on our company computers since Vista has been out.

Businesses can't just leap into V.7 just yet, it will take some time for their software to become compatable first. Is it not true that Windows 7 is not 'backwards compatible'?

I'm a IT Director at a company (900 employees). We will not upgrade until Micro$oft stops support on windows XP. Usually this is the final trigger that forces us into a upgrade situation....otherwise no reason to introduce risk and disruption to the business.

Companies that didnt want to upgrade to Vista because of incompatibilies have exactly the same problem when faced with upgrading to Windows 7. It uses the newer driver model so some older hardware won't have updated drivers and won't work. Same with software except the business version will come with the Windows XP mode (which I haven't tested yet).

Its a much better release - UAC makes better sense and is implented better. The UI is much better than the Vista one. Performance is improved compared to Vista.

Same problems tho. Old hardware isn't compatible and we are still in an economic downturn.

Well luckily they keep pushing that date back... Now it's 2014 before they drop XP support, and when Vista came out they were going to drop it a year after to force everyone over... Amazing how massive consumer backlash will force your hand.

...actually you can still buy systems out there with XP on them still, contrary to their statement that is was supposed to be 'off the shelf' in June... But who knows, maybe this time it will change.

Right after Vista came out, it was nearly impossible to find any mainstream OEM system that was not Vista... I ended up having to buy a Dell notebook with Vista because of this - I wanted the newer better hardware, not the older slower "business" models they actually would still sell with XP. Once I got it, I wiped it and put XP on, major pain to get drivers, etc. Then 3 weeks later, Dell officially backpedaled and started offering my same laptop model with XP as an option. I guess the corporate backlash to the heavy-handed Vista push was seriously denting their sales.

As to when XP will finally be a "dead" product, who knows. Many OEMs were stockpiling prior to the deadline... I'm not sure, but I thought I heard that some OEMs could still get XP, but as far as the consumer end product, that is not being produced anymore...

No, you are wrong. The support lifecycle hasn't changed since 2005-2006.

Mainstream support for XP has already ended. Now it is in extended support until 2014 as it always has been, which means no new features... Just critical security patches. This has nothing to do with the 'failure' of Windows Vista or angry customers.

Too right, I had the date for the "retirement" of Windows XP SP2 stuck in my head, supposedly sometime in 2010 I think? Totally separate from the support lifecycle, good catch.

I do know that Microsoft was supposedly stopping licensing to OEMs and such in 2008 (just 17 months after Vista was released), except for ultra low cost units - some kind of support for the "laptop for every child" project, perhaps? Makes you wonder how long OEMs can keep selling computers with XP, if the well is dry. Must have been some serious stockpiling?

That's true -- MS did extend the amount of time OEMs could purchase XP licenses. :-)

Also, the whole cheap netbook thing caught on, the XO OLPC was being shipped out to other countries where price was a huge concern and there was always the public dissidence against Vista too.