Someone’s job description at Microsoft must include the phrase “chief nagger for upgrading Windows.” Although it probably reads as “senior software enhancement executive” in their resume. But their role is to constantly remind the world that older versions of Windows are insecure and dangerous.
That’s increasingly the case in the malware, zero-day exploit and scam-laden world of today’s Internet. But that never stopped the millions of people still using Windows XP or Vista from worrying. Now Microsoft is turning to the hundreds of millions of current, happy, Windows 7 users who somehow avoid being fooled by the Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor shenanigans.
Talking to enterprise users, Microsoft is pointing out that the eight-year old OS now fails to meet the needs of many IT departments and can put users and business data at risk. This may be true, but the aggressive rollout of Windows 10 has left many suspicious.
Microsoft also has to calm users about how updates and patches, that are being foisted on the general Windows 10 user base, are more manageable for businesses. They also need to reassure businesses that the company is in control of their own systems, with Microsoft’s penchant for changing user settings at will, also causing concern.
Add to that the fast pace of feature improvements, and you can see why many people don’t want to upgrade. These new features may appeal to home users used to the pace of mobile OS updates but are scary territory for businesses.
Overall, it will be a costly and time-consuming experience for many businesses to test that their users can run Windows 10 without concerns. While compatibility issues used to be the major concern of the past, now it is how the software vendor controls the OS once it is installed and that IT’s management controls actually remain in control of the system.
This is all taking place at the same time that Microsoft is heavily pushing Office 365, Azure and SharePoint in the cloud, or hosted, to users on mobile and other operating systems. That makes you wonder just how long it will be before there’s any justification for a Windows 11 for the “senior software enhancement executive” to beat companies around the head with.
Photo credit: Dave Dugdale / Mendhak
Source: Wayne Williams (BetaNews) / Gordon Kelly (Forbes)
