CTOs warned to prepare for Windows 7 budget squeeze
12 , 2010 13:32
Businesses rushing to upgrade their computers from Microsoft’s Windows XP and Windows 2000 to Windows 7 can expect their budget purse to swell in 2011-2012, IT analyst house Gartner warned yesterday. “Corporate IT departments typically prefer to migrate PC operating systems (OSs) via hardware attrition, which means bringing in the new OS as they replace hardware through a normal refresh cycle,” said Gartner managing veep Charles Smulders. “Microsoft will support Windows XP for four more years. With most migrations not starting until the fourth quarter of 2010 at the earliest, and PC hardware replacement cycles typically running at four to five years, most organisations will not be able to migrate to Windows 7 through fix exe errors usual planned hardware refresh before support for Windows XP ends.” But those company CTOs who decide to upgrade their Windows operating systems in a tight timeframe will impose budgetary and resource burdens on their business, said Gartner. Part of the reason that corps can expect to see prices jacked up is due to the fact that demand for highly-skilled Windows 7 techies will outstrip remove spyware tips supply, thereby pushing up rates from those IT guys and gals who are qualified to do the job properly. Of course, the rush for CTOs to upgrade to Windows 7 is in direct contrast to the sluggish uptake of the operating system’s predecessor Windows Vista. This may also explain the sense of urgency felt among corps to hit refresh drivers database on their computer inventory. Gartner reckoned that orgs that want to quickly migrate over to Windows 7 in 2011 and 2012 have a number of options, each of which comes with a price tag that will undoubtedly affect company budgets. If a 10,000 computer-strong business decided to buy in new PCs with the OS upgrade included, file extension database their CTOs and bean counters can expect to see capital costs amount to about 60 per cent of the total replacement cost, said Gartner, based on each PC being priced at between $1,205 and $1,999. “Using existing PCs will reduce the capital costs of migration, but will not reduce the labor costs of migration,” the analysts noted. But upgrading only the operating system also comes at a price.
! .