Windows 7 next year? "You must be joking"

Windows 7 may be generating its fair share of hype but CIOs are planning to take a cautious approach towards rolling out the operating system.

In the latest silicon.com CIO Jury, which asked IT chiefs whether they're planning to roll out Windows 7 in 2010, just one of the 12 Jury members said they're considering it. Windows 7 is expected to be available later this year.

Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director for publisher Hachette Filipacchi, won't be deploying Windows 7 for at least 18 months.

"For heaven's sake, you must be joking [about a 2010 roll out]! We'll look at it and understand it, but I can't think we'll consider this sort of implementation until 2011 earliest," he said.

Florentin Albu, ICT manager at Eumetsat (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), said his organisation would not be rolling out Windows 7 in launch year if it can be avoided.

"I believe the standalone, user operating system becomes less and less relevant in a corporate environment. It is more difficult to justify the cost of the upgrade unless dependencies coming from the line-of-business applications are an issue," he said.

Last month, analysts advised businesses that haven't yet begun a Vista deployment to jump straight to Windows 7 and it seems CIOs' reluctance to embrace Windows 7 hasn't translated into a repreive for Windows Vista.

Schroders CIO Matthew Oakeley said: "2010 is too soon. We would, however, be looking to skip Vista."

Peter Birley, director of IT at law firm Browne Jacobson, agreed, saying: "We are likely to jump Vista and go to Windows 7 but we may hang on until 2011."

Jacques René, CTO of aerospace consultancy Ascend, added his company is planning to stick with Windows XP for as long as there is support available as part of a desktop virtualisation programme.

Just one member of the CIO Jury said they are planning to move to Windows 7 and even then, only if the appropriate drivers to support the organisation systems are in place. "Other than that we'll stay put," he said.

This CIO Jury was:

• Florentin Albu, ICT manager, Eumetsat
• Alastair Behenna, CIO, Harvey Nash
• Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director, Hachette Filipacchi
• Peter Birley, director of IT, Browne Jacobson LLP
• Paul Haley, director of information technology, Directorate of Information Technology
• Madhushan Gokool, IT manager, Storm Model Management
• John Keeling, CIO, John Lewis
• Rob Neil, head of ICT and customer services, Ashford Borough Council
• Matthew Oakeley, CIO, Schroders
• David Pirie, group IT director, BCA Group
• Mike Roberts, IT director, The London Clinic
• Jacques René, CTO, Ascend

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