A new stat out this week from Microsoft caught our eye -- Windows 7 has sold 90 million licenses to-date. An astounding number? Yes. A surprising number? Not so much in that it represents pent-up demand from organizations looking to upgrade their OS but not to Vista. As our customers look to upgrade to Windows 7, we’re getting lots of questions about what kinds of issues will need to be addressed. Application compatibility is a HUGE one. Many organizations have hundreds if not thousands of homegrown, undocumented applications on their networks. IT is aware of some of them, but certainly not all. In many cases, these may be mission-critical applications related to finance, operations, etc. If they aren’t compatible with a new operating system, it won’t be pretty. Lost productivity, compliance issues and security breaches could all rear their ugly heads. So, buyer beware. As eager as you may be to get your organization to Win 7, make sure your organization documents the applications that will go with it and, most importantly, understands their business value.
What’s your experience been with application compatibility and Win 7?