Although Microsoft has gone the distance to promote Windows 7 in advance of its upcoming release in October, CIOs are a little more cautious about upgrading their computer environment. Few CIOs say that they will embrace Windows 7 with open arms. Instead, most CIOs plan to keep the product at arms length until they can assess its performance potential, determine whether or not Windows 7 supports a particular organizational need and offers the necessary Windows drivers to support existing and planned hardware.

CIOs Won’t Commit To Immediate Roll Out

2010 doesn’t seem to be the banner roll out year. CIOs who say that they’re considering the product don’t plan to make any major moves until 2011 at the earliest. This may fall in line with Microsoft’s planned service pack update for Windows 7, which is expected at or near the 18-month mark – Spring of 2012.

According to a survey that appears at silicon.com, most CIOs haven’t yet migrated to Windows Vista. It’s not a case of them waiting for the latest OS, but rather a case of having little incentive to migrate to a new OS.

CIOs are less driven to upgrade by the availability of a new product than they are by the upgrade of their application suite. In general, if the applications don’t require the new OS, there’s little incentive to upgrade. Complicating this slightly is the fact that Microsoft will allow its Volume Licensing program enrollees to use whatever version of the Windows operating system they choose.

Individual users may not have much choice. Home users – that is, those users who purchase a “home” version of Windows 7 will not have any downgrade rights. Instead, these users will receive the Windows 7 product. According to Microsoft, there is no upgrade path from older versions of the OS – most notably Windows XP – to Windows 7. A full installation of the new product is required.

This may make the decision to upgrade slightly more difficult for the individual user because there’s no way to “back out” of a migration, short of setting up a dual-boot computer. With the cost of computers in a free-fall, many users may simply opt to purchase a computer with Windows 7 already installed and migrate their files and application to the new computer.

In my experience, Windows Vista has been largely stable in a limited network environment. While it is still befuddled by the occasional unexplained event, it does represent a speed and performance improvement over Windows XP in most cases.

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Microsoft will launch a free anti-malware beta service today. The new service, called Microsoft Security Essentials, will replace its Live OneCare product. The new service will run on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 and will be available in a limited number of countries, including the United States, Brazil and Israel. The company also plans to make a simplified Chinese version later this year. Malware is one of the primary drivers for Windows security enhancements.

MSE Replaces Live OneCare

Microsoft Security Essentials will compare signatures of known malware products with file downloads to determine whether the user is inadvertently downloading malware. If the downloaded file passes the first test (no malware signature match), Microsoft Security Essentials will check its Dynamic Signature Service to see if any new malware signatures match the download. If the download seems like it may be malicious, the DSS will request a code sample to create a new malware signature. New signatures will be published three times daily. If users of the new MSE enable auto-updates, their computers will be protected automatically, even from hours-old malware releases.

In addition to being able to detect and reject malware downloads, the service can sniff out root kits and other malicious code that could impact a computer. The service scans the PC when the CPU is otherwise idle so it does not interfere with the normal operation of the computer.

MSE may not make nice with other anti-virus programs you may have installed on your computer. Running MSE and another antivirus product simultaneously will cause MSE to send up a warning about the unnecessity of running more than one anti-virus program.

Do you really need MSE? MSE might be a good idea for you if you have no other anti-virus or anti-malware program on your computer, or you’ve stopped updating the program you have. It’s always a good idea to have anti virus and anti-malware programs on your computer.

I’m not sure I agree with the “wisdom” Microsoft puts forth when it warns users about not needing more than one anti-malware program. Some malware programs are just better than others, and malware can be notoriously difficult to track down. Having one semi-competent anti-malware program loaded and running may give users a false sense of security about how well their computer is protected. There are multiple anti-malware programs that work well together, but MSE will have to prove itself as reliable before I’ll tell anyone that it’s the only anti-malware program they’ll ever need.

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If you plan to purchase a new computer after Windows 7 has been released, but you want to run Windows XP on it, you’ll need to pay close attention to the license you purchase with your new computer. Some users, particularly those in networked environments still wish to run Windows XP because later versions of the operating system may not have the hardware drivers they need to make their computer equipment work properly.

Windows 7 Downgrade Rights Limited

According to Microsoft, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate versions will contain downgrade rights to XP but those downgrade rights will be limited to sales on or before April 22, 2011 or until the first Windows 7 Service Pack is released, whichever is sooner.

Originally, Microsoft had planned to limit the downgrade option to systems sold within the first six months following Windows 7′s release. With the 2011 date, Microsoft is giving users another 12 months to use their downgrade rights. Following the deadline date, users will only be able to purchase downgrade rights to Windows Vista.

For corporate users that are enrolled in Microsoft’s Volume Licensing program, the deadline date is meaningless. These users will retain the right to use any Windows OS, thereby preserving their ability to run “legacy” applications. This will be a big plus for most corporate users. Research shows that about 90 percent of corporate IT departments never upgraded to Windows Vista, primarily due to fears regarding driver compatibility.

Microsoft has addressed the issue of driver compatibility with Windows 7 by requiring all Vista-certified hardware manufacturers to provide Microsoft with compatibility metrics for Windows 7. Those drivers that don’t pass muster on the first blush must be made Windows 7 compatible by the time the new OS is released if the manufacturers wish to retain Vista certification.

In addition to allowing a downgrade path for Premium and Ultimate purchasers, Microsoft has built in a Windows XP hardware emulator so users can still run Windows XP applications on the newer operating system via a virtual machine. The addition of virtual machine capabilities will require that computer hardware running Windows 7 supports virtualization.

It’s clear that Microsoft expects most users to migrate to Windows 7 once it hits the market and is doing everything possible to remove user objections to the process of migrating from XP to Windows 7. Windows XP, originally released in October 2001 and is badly dated as far as operating systems go. For most users, upgrading to Windows 7 (or even Windows Vista) is a move that’s long overdue.

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Microsoft announced on June 1 that all hardware manufacturers seeking certification for Windows Vista must also test their drivers on Windows 7. According to documentation on Microsoft’s Web site, “…all Windows Vista client and Windows Server 2008 submissions must include a complete test log for the new beta OS.”

Microsoft Doesn’t Want A Repeat Of Vista Driver Disasters

According to Microsoft, the drivers don’t have to pass muster on Windows 7 to gain a Windows Vista certification, but the company wants to see the test results. Vendors aren’t completely off the hook; Microsoft also says that its partners must investigate and resolve issues with hardware, system BIOS and drivers prior to the Windows 7 release. Earlier this month, Microsoft said it would send Windows 7 to market on October 22, ahead of the December holidays, but after the back-to-school rush.

Microsoft says it has stiffened the requirements for Vista certification because it wants to ensure a smooth transition to Windows 7. Drivers are especially important to Microsoft because the company fielded so many complaints from users who were unable to find compatible drivers, or got drivers that didn’t work with Vista. Hardware manufacturers were unable or unwilling to produce compatible, stable drivers, even (in some cases) for their latest hardware revisions.

Finding compatible drivers is a chore, even with the latest version of the Windows operating system. Driver Detective enables you to keep track of all of your hardware drivers and driver updates automatically. Adding new hardware to your computer is simplified because you’ll always be sure to have the correct driver.

Driver Detective can also keep track of your installed drivers to ensure that they’re working properly. If you accidentally delete a driver, or it becomes corrupted, Driver Detective will retrieve a fresh copy of the correct driver and install it automatically.

Driver Detective will automatically check for driver updates when you download and install operating system patches and updates. No more finding out after you’ve installed an update that a critical driver for your system no longer works properly and then having to back out of an installation while you try to locate an updated driver.

Driver Detective handles all of these issues automatically. Once it’s installed and configured, you don’t need to wonder whether your hardware drivers are up-to-date or spend hours chasing down and installing updated software for your computer. Take the hassles out of maintaining your driver library with Driver Detective.

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