A recent post from Evan Stein, CMIT Solutions Grand Central, caught me eye this morning and I thought I’d add our experience and opinion. Read it to get the basics When and How to Upgrade to Windows 7.
Yes, your move to Windows 7 (if you are a Windows user) is inevitable. The important point for business owners it to PLAN the timing. This is what we are talking about with our clients during our Marathon meetings. Change is here and if you don’t plan for this change you will (guaranteed) end up loosing time, spending more money, be frustrated when it is thrust upon you. As Even pointed out your adoption to Windows 7 can be done 2 ways, by buying new PCs or upgrading the ones you have. Which are you going to do? Will you do this all at once or piece meal?
Here is my suggestion. Do an evaluation first. Given the current age and condition of your existing equipment will it make sense to invest the labor (a few hours) and dollars into them? How much you ask? Well unless you are running Vista you will need to do a complete new install of Windows 7 on your machine (figure $150-$300 for the upgraded software and 2 hours of labor), then locate the Windows 7 “drivers” for all the hard components on your machine and peripherals (all the items plugged into it), then install all your programs (you have all the media or download files, right?) and then migrate over your data (you do have a verified backup of your data right?). Sound like a lot of time, it will be… Therefore in most cases it is more cost effective to buy new hardware that already has Windows 7. You’ll need to do this for all your machines all at one time if you don’t want to be running in a mixed environment or you’ll need to put up with living in a inconsistent environment if you don’t.
My message to you is PLAN this and decide what your strategy will be.
