Windows XP proving hard to shift

02nd August 2012

The take up of Windows 7 has been slow in places, with many large organisations still using Windows XP as their core operating system, web browser expert Browsium has claimed.

Browsium poured water on recent positive claims from Microsoft that Windows 7 had reached 50% deployment in business by estimating that only 20% of PCs in large enterprise have actually been migrated to the more recent OS.

On its blog, the company wrote:

“From our vantage point, the Windows 7 migrations that have been done to date have been the easy ones, primarily in small/medium business and education.

“When you look at very large enterprise – banks, healthcare and insurance companies, government organizations – where Browsium does the majority of our business, the picture is not so rosy. These enterprises are struggling to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 … and to eradicate IE6 and IE7 in the process.”

The company defined enterprises as organisations with 10,000 or more PCs.

Browsium blamed legacy web applications as the key reason for migration plans being hindered, explaining that ‘when it costs millions of dollars to rewrite or replace a critical business application, migration projects invariably stall until a cost-effective solution can be found’.

If true, the figure of 20% could be a real cause for concern, with support for Windows XP due to end in less than two years.

Browsium said that its Ion product offered a practical solution, enabling IE6 and IE7-dependent web applications to run unmodified in an IE8 or IE9 tab. It says that this allows firms to deploy modern and secure desktop platforms while avoiding the cost and complexity of virtualisation.

Image credit - tsuihin - TimoStudios