Last Updated on Monday, 28 December 2009 11:45 Thursday, 10 December 2009 14:59

Q: Is it worth upgrading to Windows 7?

A: You won't hear this from other IT businesses that have software partners pushing them to sell you upgrades. From a business perspective, major software upgrades should be avoided until the upgrade in question is truly mature, and even then, only when the benefits of the upgrade make it worth it. This applies to all computers and servers used in a business, regardless of whether the operating system is Windows, Linux, Unix, or Mac OS X. A major software upgrade would be an upgrade from Windows XP to Vista, from Vista to Windows 7, from Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.5, from SuSE Linux 10 to 11, or from Redhat Enterprise Linux 4 to 5.

This doesn't apply to software updates, which are smaller and more incremental compared to upgrades. Updates often fix important problems and should be applied as soon as possible when they are released. One caveat with that statement is that in larger organizations the updates should be tested with typical client and server software before deployment. Another caveat is that larger updates like service packs should be tested or at least installed so that they can be uninstalled if there is a problem. Update examples would be hotfixes and other critical patches that are installed in Windows Update.

At one time, Windows Vista was in the "immature" category and avoided by most businesses, but as it is today it can be considered a mature platform for most business users. Of course there are still applications and departments that are better suited to use Windows XP, like warehouse shipping and receiving computers, engineering test computers, accounting payroll computers, and kiosks to name a few.

So, if you are using your computer for business purposes, you shouldn't upgrade to Windows 7 yet. The cost in productivity could be far too high. It is worth it, however, to install Windows 7 on a PC that isn't critical to your business so you can test it with all the software your business depends on. This way you can also test it to see if the benefits are worth the upgrade in the first place.

An even easier way to test it is to install it on a computer at a company like Net Fu that manages company computers, servers, and services. This would allow you to cheaply test the upgrade on our hardware from your offices, without dedicating any of your equipment to the tests. You can even test many computers and servers in an isolated test network this way to see the operation of client and server software using the upgrade.

Contact us if you have other concerns not addressed here or questions about how Net Fu can help with your testing before a major software upgrade in your business.