UPFRONT STEFAN HAMMOND Finally, Windows 7 Stefan Hammond Editor shammond@ questexasia.com Last month saw the release-to-market of Windows 7. How important is the new OS? Some view W7 as the most important OS since Windows 95. I remember that debut—the hoopla was inescapable. Someone told me a friend of his stood in line for hours to get a copy of Windows 95. “The strange thing,” said my friend, “is that he doesn’t even own a computer!” Windows 7 is not only eagerly anticipated by consumers, SMBs and enterprises, but by PC manufacturers as well. Market share for Windows XP—which debuted in 2001—is still over 70%, as demand for its successor, Windows Vista, has been underwhelming. In the tech world, where two or three years of hardware use often leads to a refreshcycle. But Microsoft’s XP has proven a durable OS that users are loathe to abandon. With a minimum of RAM (and regularly patched, with Service Pack 3 installed), XP is the most stable Microsoft OS I’ve used—except for an NT installation maintained constantly by a quartet of ace technicians (no coincidence: XP’s the first Microsoft consumeroriented operating system built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture). As enterprises and SMBs prepare for hardware-refresh cycles, they should be ready for PCs to arrive with W7 preloaded. There’s more info on our Windows 7 site (http://www. cw.com.hk/term/Windows+7), but XP users should be aware that installing W7 will involve a clean-reinstall. This is why PC manufacturers are enthused by Windows 7. Most of XP-boxes are near the end of their useful life, and most copies of Windows 7 will come with a new PC attached. If you’ve been holding off a hardware-refresh because of Vistaphobia, that excuse has expired. Sure, you may want to wait a bit and see how mass-deployments of W7 play out among your peers. But so far, initial reports are largely positive. Check out “Windows 7 migration: Four planning tips” at http://www.cw.com.hk/content/windows-7-migrationfour-planning-tips. Of course, Windows 7 isn’t the only OS out there. Apple’s new Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) is wicked-fast and while you’re tied to Apple hardware (and increasingly, Apple software for certain interfaces and functions), Snow Leopard comes in both desktop and server versions and leverages Intel’s multicore processors efficiently. While Linux has proven itself in the server space, the desktop-Linuxtistas seem too busy arguing over the relative merits of Karmic Koala versus Mint to notice that they’ve yet to collectively crack the 1% market-share level. It’s your business and your choice. But the debut of Windows 7 is a welcome boost to the tech-sector. http://www.cw.com.hk <strong>Computer</strong>world <strong>Hong</strong> <strong>Kong</strong> is published by Questex Asia Ltd, 501 Cambridge House, Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay, <strong>Hong</strong> <strong>Kong</strong>. 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