Windows 7: a strong case to migrate

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: With the release of Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 7, there is a wave of excitement through the IT industry and the end users. We surveyed a subset of its 90,000 annual subscribers in the run-up to the launch to understand their perceptions and intent for migrating to Windows 7. I am personally encouraged by their response to the new operating system, which has significant improvements in the user interface and manageability.

The survey cites that 61% consumers think they will upgrade to Windows 7 at some point, of which 48% will migrate by the end of 2010. Understanding the consumers’ intent for migrating on their existing machine, as opposed to buying a new PC, shows that an encouraging 36% consumers expect to upgrade to Windows 7 on their existing hardware.

However, nearly a half (47%) think they may require professional assistance with their migration to Windows 7. While this perception may be attributed to their last experience with an operating system upgrade, our product bench has been testing the migration for Windows Vista and Windows XP users. Cutting straight to the verdict, it’s a seamless upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows Vista, however, migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 is a more challenging task. The migration from Windows XP—close to 70% desktops run on it—to Windows 7 requires a clean install of the new operating system, and customers will need to re-install their applications and migrate their settings, configuration, playlists, bookmarks etc.

Our prediction is that 40% of those who are migrating to Windows 7 will require additional assistance of some kind. If we combine that with estimates by IDC that 40 million users will migrate to Windows 7 by the end of the year, you have the prospect of tens of millions of users needing assistance with this process. To eliminate the wastage of money and frustration that go with such migration, several Websites have come out with ready-reference and step-by-step guide to application migration. We, at iYogi, too, have developed a free migration application for Windows XP users moving to Windows 7. This makes the process of migration quicker and easier, with step-by-step interface with guidelines and recommendations for the migration process.