At the beginning of the next year, 14th of January 2020 to be more precise, Microsoft will retire Windows 7, one of the most popular OSs of all time. That should be enough for everyone, especially for companies, to put plans for upgrading to Windows 10 as a top priority. Unfortunately, that does not yet seem to be the case.

Windows 7 was everyone’s favourite

The fact that Microsoft’s latest OS, Windows 10, had to struggle for 3.5 years after launching to achieve a larger market share than its predecessor, speaks enough about the popularity and the fame that Windows 7 has among users. This 10-years-old OS (it was launched in October 2009) is still used by 1/3 of all users, its features, look and stability are the main reason why many are still reluctant to migrate to Windows 10.

Windows 10 is safer with improved functionality

As we already mentioned, on January 14th 2020 the extended support for Windows 7 ends. That means that after this date Microsoft will stop publishing security updates and bug fixes for this OS and for them the “Windows 7 story” will officially have come to an end. As a reminder, Microsoft ended its mainstream support for Window 7 on January 13th 2015 when they stopped releasing any new features and functions, keeping only the most important ones – security and bug fixes.

This is one of the main reasons all of us, companies especially, need to use the next couple of months to start migrating to Windows 10 without delay. Because of the IT infrastructure become compromised, your business is compromised, and in danger. Other reasons include an overall better performance with better built-in support for newer types of hardware including secure boot capabilities with UEFI, USB 3.0, Bluetooth adapters, high-definition screens (i.e. better scaling), and solid-state drives (eg NVMe).

Important things to consider before migration

OK, we convinced you as a company that is important to start with the migration. What now?

Before starting with the actual migration a preparation process needs to be put in place. As the wise man once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”, planning for this (as for most things) is crucial and the following steps must be taken into consideration:

Hardware compatibility– It is time for your IT team to get their hands dirty. They must check all connected devices in your IT infrastructure to ensure they are compatible with Windows 10 and meeting the minimum requirements for this OS. If not, these pieces of hardware should be upgraded or replaced.

Software and App compatibility– we know how people may resist new application and software programs, especially when the old ones “are working just fine”. Before migrating you need to check all application and software packages in operation (especially those crucial for your business) and verify that they are compatible with Windows 10. If not, you know the drill – upgrade or replace.

Training and education– remember those people that we mentioned above? The ones that are great at their job, but not very big fans of changing tools like operating systems and applications? Well, as a company you need to provide them with proper training to get them familiar with all changes BEFORE upgrade/migration take place. This way your business will minimize any negative impact from the initial learning curve.

Finally, but not any less important, is finding a good partner for this complex operation to guide you and your IT team through the entire process from planning through migrating to disposal of replaced hardware after you have successfully installed, tested and upgraded your IT infrastructure. At Amplius we have run many of these upgrade projects, large and small, starting with assisting a few of the major Swedish companies to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 a number of years ago – where some 10 000 PCs were upgraded over the course of three months.

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