Is Windows 8 an Enterprise Play?

Some of you may be just beginning your Windows 7 migration from Windows XP. If so, that might have been your first mistake. If it was a lengthy test and debugging, then ok, but if you waited until the first service pack, that was a mistake. More on that later. It has to be a bit frustrating to see that just as people finally have a decent and worth successor to Windows XP that Microsoft is already showing off another operating system. By the time you get Windows 7 out to all employees, it may already be an “old” Windows operating system – which never makes users happy. But IT managers should not let the news from the D9 Conference derail any plans they may have. As we’ve learned, Windows 8 (or whatever it is called) will not ship until next year at the soonest. You already know that the last thing you want to do is stall some more because very quickly, new hardware coming to market will not have Windows XP drivers available for them. So by all means, do not wait. Secondly, Microsoft has said that not only will Windows 8 work on today’s hardware, it might actually have lower system requirements. With the exception of Vista, Microsoft has been trying fairly hard to lost the old reputation of needing a new PC with every new software release. So, if Microsoft’s word on this proves true, PCs bought between now and Windows 8 availability should be able to handle an OS upgrade. (Your budget handling it, well that’s another story.) But the most important thing to keep in mind is that the theme of Windows 8 is unification of platforms from desktop to handheld. The new interface being developed for Windows 8 bears a striking resemblance to the UI in Windows Phone 7, and at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) show, Microsoft showed off an update to the Xbox 360 console that is also strikingly similar to Windows 8/Phone 7. Much of what Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows division, showed off at D9 earlier this month was based around the UI and making it tablet-friendly. With dozens of Android tablets on the market, and none of them making any headway against Apple, Microsoft is aiming for something different, and its strategy is somewhat Apple-like: it’s looking to bring consistency across platforms. Whether you are on your PC, a tablet, phone or Xbox, you will have a consistent experience. The core of Windows 8, as far as anyone can tell, has not changed. The driver model remains the same from Vista/7, the security model remains the same, and the kernel will be evolved but not wholly new. These are the things that can be disruptive in an environment of custom applications. There is some concern on the parts of developers because the new UI in Windows 8 is HTML5-based, and Silverlight developers are feeling like they are about to be left hanging. Sinofsky has said all will be explained at two upcoming shows in September, BUILD and Professional Developer’s Conference. So yes, Windows 8 looks on track to be an enterprise play, as well as a consumer one. But until it arrives, unless you are building Silverlight applications, Windows 8 is no excuse to slow down any Windows 7 deployments currently taking place.