Joe Gleinser at GCS Technologies in Austin, Texas, speaks for many in the solution provider community when he praises what he’s seeing in the forthcoming Windows 7, and he makes a compelling business case for his end customers to upgrade – ASAP.
Check out the blog entry, “Why Windows 7?” for Gleinser’s laundry list of official recommendations he’s making to clients. He hits upon several seemingly obvious, but solid reasons:
- For XP holdouts, it’s time to move on. That’s bound to be the toughest sell for any solution provider pushing Windows 7 upgrades as many customers find XP works just fine – these are the same folks who said a loud ‘No thank you’ to Windows Vista. But Gleinser makes a good point when says that XP driver support is drying up along with technical support that includes some security updates.
- He is convinced that users will love Windows 7 once they see it and use it. It’s fast and the navigation is slick. For this reason, solution providers should make it a point to provide demos to their customers as a routine way to create demand gen. Get the OS in the hands of a C-level executive and if they like it enough it could drive a larger deal.
- End users weigh things like navigation and performance, but for solution providers and ISVs building solutions based on Windows 7 as a platform Gleinser points to a raft of new features such as AppLocker and Branch Casting that will impress. Vista included many great new features as well, but partners never got a chance to exploit them as Microsoft continued putting out build after build prior to launch and thoroughly frustrated partners and ISVs with the constant changes to the code.
- Lastly, a reality check on the juggernaut that is Microsoft. He writes: “Windows 7 will be the best option for the vast majority of PCs in the world. Linux desktops can’t crack more than a few percent of the business desktop market. Mac OS X still lacks many network features and requires a new skill set for most IT departments.”
Gleinser’s made his argument. Any of you out there got a list of reasons customers should NOT move to Windows 7?