Opinion
The Windows 7 Stampede
By Larry Hooper
 So it is finally here. It seems like only yesterday the world was bashing Microsoft for constantly blowing it with its Vista operating system almost every step of the way.
Then Microsoft did the right thing. Without exactly saying it, the company stopped trying to convert XP lovers to Vista and instead put its efforts into the next version of its operating system, Windows 7.
Think back to two years ago: There was a lot of mud-slinging about the end of an empire, the last of the Windows operating systems, the death of the giant of Redmond. People argued that the failure of Vista to win over the world was the beginning of the end. Along the way, Apple made some serious headway with its Mac platform at the expense of Vista, which was the basis for the whole ‘I'm a Mac, I'm a PC’ commercial series. And in the past year, Linux-based netbooks caught on with consumers.
But that anti-momentum is all but dead now. The reviews are in, and Windows 7 is a hit. With its official launch this month, expect to see even more of a groundswell behind the operating system that gave Microsoft its mojo back.
But will it lead to a hardware refresh and help the IT sector on its way to a recovery? That's the consensus of most solution providers out there. With the economy turning toward the positive and the new Windows operating system getting rave reviews, we could see a big swing to the positive side, solution providers said.
Their observations are anecdotal, and they make sense to a point. Honestly, I'm hoping they are right.
But in reality, is that wishful thinking? Will Windows 7 help spur a new IT revival? Or will companies keep their hardware refresh cycles the same and eventually stop downgrading the machines back to Windows XP? Did Vista really slow the system refresh cycle? Or was that the free-falling economy?
We all have our opinions and some people even think they have proof. But in truth, only time will tell. The next six months will be key as Windows 7 rolls out to consumers and begins to trickle into the corporate world. By then, we should know who is right. |