By Jack Doyle
Published: November 1, 2009
With the release of Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, IT professionals can finally say that they have an operating system to succeed Windows XP. Sure, Windows Vista brought us a new user interface, a plethora of new features, and heightened security, but it also brought hefty hardware requirements and boatloads of compatibility issues. The latter not boasting well in Enterprise environments.
This month, Windows XP will be 8 years old; it is time to move on. Moving to Windows 7 will be no easy task for the Enterprise, being that an in-place upgrade from Windows XP is not supported. In most scenarios, new hardware will need to be purchased; something that may cause hardships in the current economy. A rollout of Windows 7 could take several months depending on how many PCs will need to be upgraded, and because Windows 7 is more closely compatible with Vista than XP, line of business applications will need to be extensively tested in the lab, which will likely delay any plan until 2011.
So why should we be moving to Windows 7? Because Windows 7 offers us more security, stability, usability, and accessibility than Windows XP ever could. Let's take a look at what Windows 7 has to offer for the Enterprise Environment.
DirectAccess
Most enterprises currently use client VPN, Citrix, or Terminal Services to remotely access the corporate network, but what if you could remotely connect to the office network on your laptop, with the only requirement being that you are connected to the Internet. When used in conjunction with Windows Server 2008 R2, IPv6 is used to create an SSL tunnel back to a DirectAccess server on the edge of a target network. File shares, Intranet sites, and line of business applications would all be accessible. Connectivity would be seamless to the end user.
BranchCache
In remote offices, where bandwidth to the central office is limited, BranchCache can be extremely useful. BranchCache speeds up the accessing of large files stored on remote file servers by utilizing a copy of the file share hosted on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server at the branch office. BranchCache can also operate without a Windows Server 2008 server at the branch office by storing cached copies of the files directly on the branch office PCs. BranchCache always checks the properties on the file stored at the central office to verify that the most recent version is being downloaded. Since BranchCache only contacts the central office when the user requests data, bandwidth utilization between sites is greatly reduced.
Desktop Serach
In Windows 7, Microsoft brings together the power of advanced desktop search technology (first introduced in Vista) with the other Enterprise Search family of products to deliver a seamless search experience from the Start Menu and Windows Explorer. Federated search allows users to find documents located in a wide variety of repositories such as file shares, SharePoint Sites, and Web applications. A key feature of desktop search allows administrators to deploy search scopes via group policy. Search scopes are like search folders in Outlook. They allow links to be created for commonly searched items.
AppLocker
The purpose of AppLocker is to prevent the use or installation of unauthorized software. Software can be either denied or approved by publisher or version. Users have the freedom to install software that they use every day, such as Adobe Acrobat, but are protected from accidentally installing Malware. Via Group Policy, administrators can build rules to allow use of all versions of a particular application instead of creating rules for each installation. AppLocker adds both security and ease of use; a nice compromise over previous versions of Windows.
These are just a few of the new features that Windows 7 has to offer to the Enterprise. Although Windows 7 marketing often seems to be geared towards the home user, there are still many advantages to using Windows 7 in the business environment. Now that the bad publicity of Windows Vista has faded, it is time to say good bye to Windows XP and hello to Windows 7.