SmartDeploy OS Deployment Products

Apr 30, 2012

Maybe.

Windows 7
If organizations are ready to deploy Windows 7 now, they should continue with their migration plans. You shouldn’t put your project on hold and wait because if you are among those who deploy Windows 8 early, it is very likely you will make modifications to Windows 8 to operate and look like Windows 7. This is out of both necessity and sheer practicality. With Windows 7, IT knows what it’s investing in: a proven, generally stable operating system. Users also know what they’re getting: another version of Windows with incremental learning required to be efficient.

Now with that said, assuming Windows 8 is generally available, and your options are to either buy Windows licenses with downgrade rights to Windows 7 or just deploy Windows 8, you might consider moving straight to Windows 8. A lot of the decision will hinge on your company culture, savyness of your worker’s technical abilities, and the technical level of the work you’re doing. You also need to consider hardware investments, and whether you will be able to get touch-enabled hardware that can really make the most of Windows 8 that is reliable and within budget.

Windows 8
Windows 8 will be the newest product available, and you could argue that if you waited this long and you’re going to make one investment, why not deploy the latest, greatest version? By doing so, you will be better prepared for the future. From a budget and time investment standpoint, it makes sense to do one upgrade rather than two, so you could argue that making the jump straight to Windows 8 is practical. Keep in mind that if you’re still running XP and jumping to Windows 8 you will have to upgrade hardware as it can be very costly in terms of dollars and IT hours in trying to maintain aging inventory. And that hardware upgrade may have cost, capability, or reliability challenges associated with it if you want to make the most of the touch-oriented Metro UI.

If you choose to deploy Windows 8, you’ll need to take into consideration the significant learning curve for a less technical workforce. Choosing Windows 8 could lead to a significant hit in productivity, as people start to get acquainted with the new environment, at least in the short term. And you’ll probably be a hardware early adopter with your Windows 8 deployment and pay a premium for first generation hardware that often benefits from rapid improvement.

Assess Your Strategy
Moving forward, it is highly unlikely that such a large gap will exist between operating system releases like we saw with XP to Vista. Windows OSes will be released much more frequently, leaving IT with the tricky decision of how often to upgrade. Evaluate your strategy first. And now might be an ideal time to reassess your strategy entirely considering the changing IT landscape.

I initially thought there would inordinate risk involved with skipping Windows 7 for Windows 8, but with the Windows 8 release timeframe back on track and time left on the XP clock, increasingly I believe there are reasonable arguments to go directly to Windows 8. Stay where you are until you’re good and ready, and when you’re ready, make an informed decision for your business.

Mar 22, 2012

Aaron Suzuki

Initially, I was of the opinion that organizations still running Windows XP wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t, skip Windows 7 and go directly to Windows 8. But as time has elapsed and migration numbers have not moved significantly I’m beginning to think that many organizations simply won’t have the option to buy Windows 7 by the time they get around to migrating. That isn’t to say that they can’t run Windows 7. There will almost certainly be downgrade rights to run Windows 7 even if you’re required to buy Windows 8. But if you’re making the move, why not just run Windows 8?

Windows 8 can easily be modified (IT rocket scientist skills not required) to look and behave nearly identically to Windows 7. Windows 8 comes will all kinds of new features and touch capabilities, but you don’t have to use any of them. You can use it just like you would any other version of Windows you’ve run. Almost all of the applications I’ve been using on Windows 7, with a few notable exceptions, run the same on Windows 8 and they upgraded in place. Windows 8 is capable of running on any Windows 7 compatible device. (I’m actually running a preview version of Windows 8 on a device that came loaded with Windows Vista.)

The counter arguments are many - as hoards of technical people before me have often claimed, a major release of Windows, such as Windows 8, modifies the OS kernel and such low level changes pose a potentially great element of risk, causing many IT executives to wait for at least the first Service Pack prior to adopting a new OS broadly.

But it is 2012 and it looks like Microsoft is going to make it to RTM this calendar year. That is a truly amazing accomplishment, and the expediency of getting to market bolsters my argument further: if end of life for XP is in 2014, there will be 12-18 months of time for the entire ecosystem around Windows to gain momentum. Microsoft will have the time to tighten up the OS to at least SP1, if not SP2. Hardware vendors will be able to get on to the second release of devices that are compatible with Windows 8 and work out kinks from the first generation. ISVs will have lead time to get Metro apps created and tested for Windows 8 in both conventional desktop and Metro environments.

Migration will all come down to timing - if an enterprise waits long enough it will make sense to skip Windows 7 and go straight to Windows 8. But the reality is that I’m still speculating, as is everyone else, about the future of this greatly anticipated product.

Mar 15, 2012

Aaron Suzuki

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had some interesting discussions around the possible effects Windows 8 will have on IT departments. One common theme discussed is the idea that consumers will accelerate ITs need to support Windows 8. So what does this mean for an organization’s migration needs?

I think this goes beyond deployment – it is more of a broad supportability issue and deployment could come in the de facto form of a “break-fix” scenario as opposed to just needing to deploy Windows 8 sooner than expected. IT will be in a position where, unless they are prepared, they are forced to support Windows 8 whether they want to or not.

Windows 8 is going to be more capable and more ready for the corporate LAN than an Android or iOS device. Non-Windows tablets are limited to run email, calendaring, and some web apps that are supported in their browser. However, Windows 8 has the full robustness and capability of other Windows platforms in terms of application operation and manageability. It can join an Active Directory domain, and unless IT has it locked down, people will join their Windows 8 devices to the domain. And then all the fun can really begin. Moreover, many Windows 8 devices will be “convertible” meaning that they will either have keyboards attached or included, and users can flip from consumption-mode to production-mode and have the full productivity of a normal sized, physical qwerty keyboard.

So what you’ll have is this powerful Windows device probably loaded with Office 2010 (and anything they can get to install on it, which is most anything that will run on Win7) and it is good for more than surfing the web, triaging email, and posting to Facebook. People will access corporate resources with it – file shares, intranet and LOB apps, printers – and they’ll be calling on IT to help when they can’t do everything they expect.

There are ways to address this, but it will take IT involvement. There has to be some preparation and proactivity on the part of IT to be ready for this wave of IT demand and the potential security threats that accompany this unique generation of devices.

In order to prepare for the onslaught of Windows 8 devices, IT departments should begin taking the precautionary steps and evaluate policies in light of Windows 8, before it comes to market. With the right policies in place, an organization won’t be forced to accelerate their Windows migration timeline, rather they will be in a better place operationally to support their employee’s and stay aligned with the needs of the business.

Aug 18, 2011

Aaron Suzuki

Gartner recently released a report saying that 42% of computers globally will run Windows 7 by the end of 2011. That is a considerable expectation shift from past reports that indicated great masses migrating in 2009 and then again 2010. While any claim of less than 50% is more reasonable than past claims, there are still many variables, as well as our continued anecdotal observations to the contrary: mainly that there will be a long, slow migration to newer operating systems. I think Gartner’s 42% is aggressive this year, certainly within the business enterprise environment.

Why? We’re simply not seeing it with our customers- not in the past six months, nor now. The majority of our customers still run Windows XP and most of our new customers buy our product to deploy Windows XP (but they‘re grateful that it will work the same for Windows 7 when they get there). Recognizing some of these trends, I think analysts have started to relax projections (as indicated by Gartner’s latest report). However, there are still issues I see with their forecast.

I’m less bothered by the quantitative claims in the Gartner report than I am about the assertion they make that Windows 7 will be the last Windows operating system mass deployed by corporate IT. I look at the state of enterprise IT and there is simply no clear-cut alternative. And while we frequently have customer discussions about alternative desktop computing models, such as desktop virtualization, we have no consensus whatsoever from customers as to the “right” solution. It’s still too complicated, expensive, and new. For the CIO, all of this translates into risk, which is what they trying to avoid.

Moreover, new desktop computing models do not negate the need for mass deployment solutions. It is naïve to think that the desktop of the future will run on the same platform for every user in an organization. Knowledge worker computing demands are too diverse to apply a completely homogeneous desktop computing model across an enterprise. To the contrary, I believe new computing models will exacerbate the need for intelligent large-scale deployment and management solutions.

Perhaps the most egregious implication of Gartner’s latest report is that the desktop of the future will be realized in 5 years or less. It simply does not make sense based on customer feedback and our knowledge of the state of their infrastructures. (We have very large customers who won’t have their Windows 7 migrations done in 5 years!) Now, from a technology perspective, there will be mature solutions readily available and sold aggressively to customers in all industries and market segments. But there is yet another complicated question of value associated with these solutions, and whether customers can be convinced that it will save time and money.

My sense is that the technology industry wants to see the desktop trend move in the same direction as the data center. But in business terms, desktop virtualization bears very little resemblance to server virtualization. Server consolidation through virtualization delivers considerable, immediate value and is complemented by a positive, green PR story. Not so on the desktop. VDI does not deliver the same direct cost savings as consolidated, virtualized servers; and the challenge of anywhere, anytime access to the desktop for the modern workforce requires an OS local to the end point, which only adds more software to traditional desktop computing and ultimately a higher cost and more management overhead.

There are business environments and use cases ideal for today’s desktop virtualization models. We are generally proponents of desktop virtualization, but we have yet to see prevailing desktop virtualization architecture and a market-dominating solution and I expect we will not for several years to come.

Ultimately, my position remains the same: businesses use technology to improve productivity and keep the business running. With the sluggish movement away from Windows XP, is it really realistic to believe that business will make the quantum leap to completely new computing models accompanied by new IT management models with the Windows 8 or even the Windows 9 wave on the horizon?

Jun 06, 2011

David Brow

In my previous posts I’ve discussed the challenges of OS deployments for the education market and many of the benefits education IT professionals gain from working with channel partners. So what can channel partners do in order to be equipped to handle the needs of both higher education and K-12 institutions?

Get Educated: First and foremost, channel partners need to be familiar with the different solutions available in the market with a short list of 2 or 3 solutions that they are very familiar with. Departmental diversity in higher education poses the biggest challenge to this knowledge base as the needs of the overall institution are often different from the needs of individual departments with their hardware and software diversity. Knowing what will fit best and being able to provide the differentiators is of tremendous value. Additionally, being able to answer specific questions as they relate to a particular environment, including the software and hardware needs is important

Price Matters: Secondly, sell the value of the channel and be prepared to back it up with not only the expertise but the price structure that makes sense for the customer. While there are different solutions to fit different needs, there are also different cost models. The financial exposure and budget constraints that affect public K-12 and higher educations organizations are different than those of private institutions. Channel partners need to understand their customers and their constraints by asking questions, identifying needs and acting as their advocates by getting the cost structure and pricing model in place that will work.

Serving as a Resource: Finally, channel partners need to be able to provide guidance. IT is a vast business with a wide variety of knowledge held by a large base of IT professionals. However, nobody knows everything there is to know about IT. By being able to provide guidance to IT staff and making the solution understandable, channel partners provide tremendous value to an educational customer. K-12 needs are traditionally different than those of higher education so being able to provide a solution that is ideal for their environment shows that the partner is looking out for the customer rather than themselves. With higher education, the diversity itself may require a very different solution that what they think they need. Providing guidance again shows that the customer needs come first.