American home users and enterprise networks are at a a crossroads. Should it upgrade to Windows 7 after the failure of Window Vista? What are the pros and the cons. Are there any alternatives?Fist of all, there is no upgrade path from XP Pro to Windows 7. If you have not already installed Windows Vista, you would have to backup your data reformat the hard Drive to install Windows 7.
Windows 7 also has compatibility problems. Microsoft developed XP Mode (XPM) emulation so that Windows 7 can be backward compatible with XP Pro applications like Microsoft Office 2003. This feature is only available in the enterprise versions of the software so home users are out of luck. In addition XPM is not compatible with many Intel and AMD CPUs. Even some modern laptops do not support XPM.
It is also interesting that Microsoft will continue to support XP Pro until 2014, but will abandon updates for Vista in 2012. This seems to be an admission on the part of Microsoft that Vista was a failure.
For the home user, Windows 7 is problematic. The XPM mode is of no value. Even if the home users upgrade to an enterprise version of Windows 7, they may run into compatibility problems with certain Intel and AMD CPUs. This means all of the older XP Pro applications will have to be upgraded on home PCs. This will be expensive for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) users.
For the enterprise, there is a migration path for machines that have Vista installed and also have CPUs compatible with XPM. Otherwise, the IT staff would have to replace all of the client side PCs and servers that are not XPM compatible to run the older XP Pro applications.
In most cases, enterprises would buy or lease new PCs and servers with Microsoft Office 2007 bundled. Microsoft does not plan to immediately upgrade Office 2007. It will publish a service pack that should run on Windows 7 without XPM emulation. By the time a corporations, pay for new PCs. Servers, OS and applications, the cost could be a minimum of $500 to $600 per unit for anew XPM compatible PC that is bundled Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2007.
I view of the limitations of Windows 7, what are the alternatives? Taking a close look at Linux for a desktop operating system replacement would save home and business users hundreds or thousands of dollars. In some cases it may be necessary for certain users to stay with a Microsoft operating system (OS) if they are running a specialized business or data base applications.
Microsoft servers are another consideration. Many IT people prefer the Microsoft server to the free Linux server versions. Most colleges and technical schools train their IT students on Microsoft servers. Jumping into the Linux server world will a bigger problem than moving from the Microsoft desktop to the Linux desktop. The Microsoft servers work fine with Linux clients.
Both the current Fedora Linux and Ubuntu Linux distributions are excellent. Fedora is the open source version of Red Hat Linux. Ubuntu is strictly open source. There are no commercial Ubuntu servers or desktop versions. This is one of the decision an IT staff would want to make. Would they want the low cost commercial version of Linux so they can call a help desk for support or do they want to go it alone with Ubuntu Linux?
Ubuntu is little more robust than Fedora. It comes with most applications that a user would need such as the Firefox browser. Evolution email which has most of the feature of Microsoft Outlook and Open Office which include a word processor, a databases application, a spreadsheet, a drawing program and presentation software. In addition, there are numerous free downloads that can be used to add features that users need.
Ubuntu comes with CD/DVD burner software, a remote desktop viewer and a terminal server client. Users can download free anti-virus and malware software called ClamAV and a AV front end called ClamTK that simplifies AV scanning. There are a variety of firewalls that can also be downloaded. One that is equivalent to the Microsoft firewall is Gufw which uses the command line IPTables firewall that is built into most versions of Linux.
In addition, there is a Wine download allows users to run many Windows applications. You can browse the applications that are supported at appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&sTitle=Browse%20Applications&sOrderBy=appName&bAscending=true
Windows 7 also has compatibility problems. Microsoft developed XP Mode (XPM) emulation so that Windows 7 can be backward compatible with XP Pro applications like Microsoft Office 2003. This feature is only available in the enterprise versions of the software so home users are out of luck. In addition XPM is not compatible with many Intel and AMD CPUs. Even some modern laptops do not support XPM.
It is also interesting that Microsoft will continue to support XP Pro until 2014, but will abandon updates for Vista in 2012. This seems to be an admission on the part of Microsoft that Vista was a failure.
For the home user, Windows 7 is problematic. The XPM mode is of no value. Even if the home users upgrade to an enterprise version of Windows 7, they may run into compatibility problems with certain Intel and AMD CPUs. This means all of the older XP Pro applications will have to be upgraded on home PCs. This will be expensive for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) users.
For the enterprise, there is a migration path for machines that have Vista installed and also have CPUs compatible with XPM. Otherwise, the IT staff would have to replace all of the client side PCs and servers that are not XPM compatible to run the older XP Pro applications.
In most cases, enterprises would buy or lease new PCs and servers with Microsoft Office 2007 bundled. Microsoft does not plan to immediately upgrade Office 2007. It will publish a service pack that should run on Windows 7 without XPM emulation. By the time a corporations, pay for new PCs. Servers, OS and applications, the cost could be a minimum of $500 to $600 per unit for anew XPM compatible PC that is bundled Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2007.
I view of the limitations of Windows 7, what are the alternatives? Taking a close look at Linux for a desktop operating system replacement would save home and business users hundreds or thousands of dollars. In some cases it may be necessary for certain users to stay with a Microsoft operating system (OS) if they are running a specialized business or data base applications.
Microsoft servers are another consideration. Many IT people prefer the Microsoft server to the free Linux server versions. Most colleges and technical schools train their IT students on Microsoft servers. Jumping into the Linux server world will a bigger problem than moving from the Microsoft desktop to the Linux desktop. The Microsoft servers work fine with Linux clients.
Both the current Fedora Linux and Ubuntu Linux distributions are excellent. Fedora is the open source version of Red Hat Linux. Ubuntu is strictly open source. There are no commercial Ubuntu servers or desktop versions. This is one of the decision an IT staff would want to make. Would they want the low cost commercial version of Linux so they can call a help desk for support or do they want to go it alone with Ubuntu Linux?
Ubuntu is little more robust than Fedora. It comes with most applications that a user would need such as the Firefox browser. Evolution email which has most of the feature of Microsoft Outlook and Open Office which include a word processor, a databases application, a spreadsheet, a drawing program and presentation software. In addition, there are numerous free downloads that can be used to add features that users need.Ubuntu comes with CD/DVD burner software, a remote desktop viewer and a terminal server client. Users can download free anti-virus and malware software called ClamAV and a AV front end called ClamTK that simplifies AV scanning. There are a variety of firewalls that can also be downloaded. One that is equivalent to the Microsoft firewall is Gufw which uses the command line IPTables firewall that is built into most versions of Linux.
In addition, there is a Wine download allows users to run many Windows applications. You can browse the applications that are supported at appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&sTitle=Browse%20Applications&sOrderBy=appName&bAscending=true
Of interest, Wine also supports many games that run on Windows XP Pro.
There are also many commercial server based Linux business applications that do exactly what the Microsoft application do but usually at a lower cost.
In the past printing was problem with Linux, but that has been resolved with the current releases of Linux. Today Linux has a much broader base of print drivers.
In summary, Windows 7 will offer little functionality that is not already built into Linux desktop versions. The enterprise version of Windows 7 will run the older XP Pro applications, but the home versions do not support XPM. In addition, many late model Intel and AMD CPUs do not support XPM.There is no upgrade path from XP Pro to Window 7. If you haven't installed Vista, you will have to backup your data and reformat your hard drive to install Windows 7.
www.ubuntu.com
There are also many commercial server based Linux business applications that do exactly what the Microsoft application do but usually at a lower cost.
In the past printing was problem with Linux, but that has been resolved with the current releases of Linux. Today Linux has a much broader base of print drivers.
In summary, Windows 7 will offer little functionality that is not already built into Linux desktop versions. The enterprise version of Windows 7 will run the older XP Pro applications, but the home versions do not support XPM. In addition, many late model Intel and AMD CPUs do not support XPM.There is no upgrade path from XP Pro to Window 7. If you haven't installed Vista, you will have to backup your data and reformat your hard drive to install Windows 7.
www.ubuntu.com
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