Windows 10: What CIOs think of it so far
Windows 10, Microsoft's next operating system,
isn't expected until the middle of next year at least, and the company
is still slowly revealing the details, which include support for a wider
range of devices and increased security.
But
considering the cool reception Windows 8 has had from business so far,
Microsoft has to make a compelling case to firms as to why they should
upgrade to Windows 10 when it arrives.
And
so far, tech chiefs on seem to have a positive view of Windows 10, at
least at this early stage in its development. When asked "Do you think
Microsoft heading in the right direction with Windows 10?" the
TechRepublic CIO Jury voted yes by a margin of 11 to one.
"From
our preliminary review, the Windows 10 Technical Preview looks to be on
the right track. Our institution has bypassed Windows 8.x and looks
forward to testing and implementation of Windows 10 as soon as we
confirm compatibility with our systems. It's great to be excited about a
new version of Windows again," said Chuck Elliott, CTO at Concord
University.
And Michael Spears, CIO at NCCI Holdings, was
similarly optimistic: "It's still very early, but it seems they have
renewed their focus on business, which deteriorated over the last few
years. It's very welcome from my perspective."
Delano Gordon, CIO
at Roofing Supply Group, said getting business onboard early will be
key for Microsoft. "I believe they dropped the ball with Windows 8
thinking both business and consumers would love the new user interface.
"Business
and its user base will always be slow to change without proper
mechanisms in place to ease any transition. A strong and compelling
argument must exist before enterprises, having just transitioned to
Windows 7, decide to go to Windows 10 right out of the gate. The list of
features and improvements sound like a step in the right direction
however."
But just because these tech chiefs like the look of
Windows 10 it doesn't necessarily mean they're in a rush to migrate to
it: instead, many seem quite comfortable with Microsoft's last-but-one
operating system, Windows 7 (in any case businesses usually wait a year
or so after a new operating system is released before moving over). In
particular, many firms have been reluctant to move to the Windows 8
because they worry the new look and feel it offers could be confusing to
staff.
Richard Frisch, CTO at Global Strategy Group, said
Microsoft is heading in the correct direction for enterprise users.
Windows 8 is too different to Windows 7 to be easily supported, he said,
but while Windows 10 has some of Windows 8/8.1 changes embedded - like
both a Control Panel and PC Settings app for configuring the system -
it is more familiar for end users than Windows 8.1, "and that makes it a
better UI/UX in business".
"I doubt we will be migrating to
Windows 10 within the next two to three years unless access to Windows 7
is totally cut off," he added.
"It's a step in the right
direction, but still doesn't offer anything compelling to convince
business users to move from Windows 7. At this time there are zero
reasons to incur the costs of migrating the business to a new version of
Windows," said Paul Spencer, head of delivery at Cheapflights.
Robert
Cireddu, director of technology at Riverside Local School District and
Ledgemont School District, said while his school district has a
Citrix-based thin client solution in place and more than 1,000
Chromebooks deployed, it also still has about 2,000 Windows PCs in use
every day. "I don't see that number decreasing significantly when
Windows 7 (our current OS of choice) support ends. We will skip Windows 8
almost completely in our deployment cycle, so, I don't see where we
would have a choice but to embrace 10. Having said that, a cursory
review of Windows 10 makes me think it is an OS we will be able to use
with some work, but without hesitation," he said.
Jeff Cannon, CIO of Fire and Life Safety America, said there "is still not a compelling reason to migrate from Windows 7."
Cannon
said: "Windows 10 looks and sounds great. And, Microsoft appears
headed in the right direction. But, I still don't feel that compelling
urge to immediately jump to Windows 10. I felt that need with Windows
7. I was an early adopter and I couldn't get our systems off XP fast
enough. But for Windows 8 , and now 10, I just don't see or feel it
yet."
He explained for example: "I don't need Windows 10 to use
MDM to manage windows devices. I already have MDM products that do
that." Similarly he didn't need Windows 10 to interface with a Windows
phone. "I don't have any users that want a Windows phone."
Cannon
said a touch-enabled operating system maybe a big deal for managers "but
not an advantage for the hard-core users that are entering large
amounts of data day to day."
He said: "It may be more intuitive
than Windows 8 but I didn't have any users jumping to Windows 8," and
said the only demand for Windows 8 is for staff that want the Surface
Pro 3, of which he has deployed several.
"After a fair amount of
training and troubleshooting getting the end user up to speed on the new
interface, the users really seem to enjoy their new toy. No real
increase in productivity but it's a nice upgrade. Now, multiply that
migration by several hundred or several thousand users and you're
looking at a pain point not a pleasure point - and not from an IT
perspective. I mean from lost productivity and disruption as an
operations manager."
Meanwhile for John Gracyalny, VP IT at
SafeAmerica Credit Union, the issue is one that may not be resolved
anytime soon: "This is an open question to me, and will continue to be
so for a least two more years. But the bigger issue is that we have to
wait until all our key vendors officially support Win10 before we can
install it, and based on experience, this is a year-plus to two years
after the O/S release."
So what does all of this mean? Windows 8
was always going to be a bridge between the old desktop world and the
new world as embodied by tablets and cloud computing. CIOs are still
very wary of Windows 8 and the retraining they fear it entails, which is
why they've been so keen to hang on to Windows 7. That will finally go
out-of-support in 2020, so by the time Windows 10 is mature enough for
enterprise adoption - say 2017 - Microsoft will need to have persuaded
firms of the value of the upgrade.
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