Article by George Norman

On 28 May 2012

Microsoft continues to try and convince businesses that it is not a good idea to stick with the now quite old Windows XP operating system. The Redmond-based software giant brought up two important reasons why any business should migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7: money and productivity.

“Mitigating Risk: Why Sticking with Windows XP is a Bad Idea” is a whitepaper released by analyst firm IDC and sponsored by Microsoft (download it here). After interviewing 9 large organizations that deployed both Windows XP and Windows 7, IDC quantified the IT and end user costs of sticking with XP instead of migrating to Windows 7. Or to put it in other words, the whitepaper takes a close look at the risks, user productivity costs and IT labor costs associated with businesses running XP instead of Windows 7.


According to the whitepaper, refusing to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 will cost a business money. The costs associated with continuing to support XP (that would be the base IT and end user labor costs) are five times more than running Windows 7. The longer a business waits to migrate, the bigger the expenses of supporting XP get. While staying on XP is an expensive investment, using Windows 7 leads to saving money. Businesses that migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 will see significant return on investment over 130 percent over a three-year period.

Windows XP is now more than a decade old. Businesses that adopted the operating system when it was launched, noticed productivity gains. More than 10 years later, sticking with XP leads to productivity loss. Because Windows 7 does more than XP and because it runs on faster and better performing hardware, employees can get things done faster. With Windows 7 the IT department can more efficiently help employees in need, and that translates to increased efficiency as well. According to the whitepaper, the single largest component in loss of productivity in downtime-related activities is the help desk operation, followed by resolving downtime issues.

The conclusion is that with Windows 7 a business will save money, get a significant return on investment, and will see an increased productivity. Or as the IDC put it: “Organizations that continue to retain a Windows XP environment not only are leaving themselves exposed to security risks and support challenges, but also are waiting budget dollars that would be better used in modernizing their IT investments.”




Tags: Microsoft, Windows 7, Windows XP, migrate, upgrade

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