What do CIOs Really Think of Windows 10?

Windows 10, the next big Microsoft’s Windows operating system, has a lot to live up to, and enterprises have had the chance to experiment with the technical preview for the past month. While the operating system will still be in development for the better part of next year, some professionals are forming opinions of what to expect from it. From the technical preview, what do businesses think of Windows 10 so far? So far, reception of the technical preview from technology experts has been overall fairly positive. TechRepublic tested this out with a CIO Jury of 12 participants. They were all asked the question, “Do you think Microsoft is heading in the right direction with Windows 10?” The vote was almost unanimous; 11 CIOs voted yes, while only a single one voted no. Here are some quotes from these CIOs concerning the Windows 10 Technical Preview’s reception: "From our preliminary review, the Windows 10 Technical Preview looks to be on the right track. Our institution has bypassed Windows 8.x and looks forward to testing and implementation of Windows 10 as soon as we confirm compatibility with our systems. It's great to be excited about a new version of Windows again.” - Chuck Elliott, CTO of Concord University. “It’s still very early, but it seems they have renewed their focus on business, which deteriorated over the last few years. It’s very welcome from my perspective.” - Michael Spears, CIO of NCCI Holdings. However, even in light of the positive comments from these CIOs, the new Windows hasn’t convinced them to immediately upgrade away from something that works. Many professionals are completely satisfied with the current state of things and don’t wish to upgrade at the moment. This line of thinking led to several businesses continuing to use Windows XP long after its expiration date, or at least right up until its end-of-support-date. If the end-of-support date for Windows XP showed the world something, it’s that an unsupported system doesn’t necessarily convince users to upgrade away from it (though it inarguably should). When Windows 7 finally croaks, users will have to make some difficult choices, one of them being whether or not to migrate to the latest Windows operating system, Windows 10; but will it have something of value which will convince users to make the switch. Especially considering that the Windows 7 end-of-support is several years from now (January 14, 2020) some businesses will likely hold off on upgrading to Windows 10 until it is absolutely necessary. After all, Windows 7 is entirely usable, and unless something changes drastically, enterprises will keep using it. Jeff Cannon, CIO of Fire and Life Safety America, claims that there’s no real reason to upgrade from Windows 7 at the present moment, and that one of the biggest reasons for this is thanks to the learning curve any upgrades bring with them: After a fair amount of training and troubleshooting getting the end user up to speed on the new interface, the users really seem to enjoy their new toy. No real increase in productivity but it's a nice upgrade. Now, multiply that migration by several hundred or several thousand users and you're looking at a pain point not a pleasure point - and not from an IT perspective. I mean from lost productivity and disruption as an operations manager. Obviously, some enterprises are going to be wary of the changes that a new operating system brings to the table; but given the nature of end-of-support dates, change is inevitable. If businesses want to stay productive and secure while online, they will want to use the latest version of their operating system. Have you downloaded the technical preview of Windows 10 yet? We’d love to hear what your thoughts are on this subject. Let us know in the comments.