Microsoft’s Windows 7 is earning positive reviews from enterprise
workers, according to a survey conducted by research firm ITIC and analyst Roger Kay of EndPoint
Technologies. Employees at more than 400 companies were polled about their Windows 7 experiences.
Some 73 percent of respondents rate Windows 7 as "excellent," "very
good," or "good." Around 3 percent call the operating system "poor" or
"unsatisfactory."
According to ITIC analyst Laura DiDio’s Nov. 10 research
note, that number is "very close to the 80 percent majority of beta and early
adopters who gave Windows 7 the same high marks in the 2009 survey."
Some 72 percent of respondents either plan to deploy
Windows 7 or have done so already. Another 7 percent say it is "unlikely" they
would upgrade to the operating system. The remaining 21 percent indicate that
"lack of funds" has led to "no definitive plans" to upgrade to Windows 7 over
the next 12 months.
By comparison, some 90 percent of respondents have Windows XP
present in some capacity. And Apple has a significant presence in enterprise
IT infrastructure, as well
"According to our poll, Macs are present in 28 percent of networks, which is
over three times more than the two most popular Linux and open source operating
system distributions," DiDio writes. Nine percent of respondents use Red Hat
Linux and Ubuntu.
According to analytics firm Net Applications, Windows 7
currently occupies some 17.10 percent of the OS market, behind Windows XP at
60.03 percent and ahead of Windows Vista at 13.35 percent. However, the rise in
both cloud computing and mobile devices — including tablets and
smartphones — threatens to challenge the PC operating system’s lock as the
primary IT user-interface for businesses and consumers.
For more, read the eWeek article Windows 7 Earns High Marks from Businesses.