Windows: Newer is Not Always Better

Today I will address questions about the firm's policy on Operating Systems, what we support and why we support or don't support others.

Firm History with Windows

For several years the firm has relied on Windows 7 to meet its needs.  Before that it was XP, and before that the standard was 98se.  You may notice we skipped quite a few versions of Windows.  The firm never adopted Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, or most recently Windows 8.   There are many reasons for this, but the bottom line is that Microsoft has taken a great many missteps in its attempts to push forward.  Many of these rejected versions were unstable, did not work with certain products on which the firm relies, or have had difficult user interfaces.

Change is Never Easy

The IT Department tests every version of Windows that is released for compatibility, stability, and other issues and judges each.  We were very quick to jump on the XP bandwagon when it was released in 2001.  XP offered a great improvement in stability and memory management over earlier versions.  It's user interface was not terribly different from what came before, thus minimizing training issues for end users.  Also, it's wide adoption by the market ensured that all programs and applications would be compatible with it.

Our switch to Windows 7 a few years ago was more delayed and tentative.  Although released in 2009, we did not begin deploying computers with Windows 7 until 2011.  Making the change also required upgrading the versions of WordPerfect we were using as well as other applications, including our VPN client.  Most importantly, Windows 7 was incompatible with the version of Elite Time and Billing that we used at the time, resulting in the need for a major upgrade of the time and billing system costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I point out all this to make clear that changing our OS does not simply mean we start buying computers with the new OS on it.  Such fundamental changes take planning, testing, and multiple product upgrades.  Such changes are not made lightly.

Today we are all about XP and 7

Because Windows XP is no longer receiving security updates, we are working our way through a multi-year project to retire all of our Windows XP computers.  Believe it or not, there are still some desktops in use from 2001/02 when we first began to deploy XP computers.  These machines have served us well but are well beyond where we need to be today.

We are using Windows 7 as our standard.  Even though Windows 8 has been out since 2012, it has been widely rejected by the marketplace.  There are several compatibility issues.  Also, most users find the very different user interface confusing and confounding.  Microsoft has heard these complaints, and it moving back to an interface much more familiar to Windows 7 users when it releases Windows 10 later this year. (MS is inexplicably skipping Windows 9, having renamed its Windows 9 development project Windows 10.)  Assuming it meets our requirements, I suspect we may move directly to 10 at some point.  Exactly when this happens will depend greatly on our testing for compatibility and other purposes.

We are not alone in this.  A sizable majority of all computers in use today worldwide use Windows 7.  The second largest is Windows XP, with Windows 8 and 8.1 combined making up less than 15% of all desktops, despite having been on the market for nearly three years now.

Home Computer Choices

If you are buying a home computer, I recommend Windows 7.  You can still buy computers with Windows 7 pre-installed.  Newer is not always better.  There are a number of things you can do in 7 that you cannot do in 8 or 8.1.  For example, Windows 8 does not come with DVD codecs.  If you want to watch a movie on your computer with Windows XP or 7 just require you to throw in the disk.  If you have Windows 8, you would need to get a third party player to install.

Additionally, the user interface for 8 has been widely criticized by just about everyone.  Microsoft tried to make an interface that would work well on all platforms, from phone to table to desktop.  It ignored the reality that the interface for a small screen phone really needs to be different from that of a PC with a giant monitor.

All that said, most firm resources will run on Windows 8, although if you need help, neither I nor the rest of the IT staff have a great deal of experience with this OS.

Similarly, if you are a fan of the Mac or Linux, most firm programs will not run on these systems.  Of course, Gmail is available on just about anything with a browser.  But you will be on your own trying to connect to our network or access files.  I do not recommend staying beyond Windows if you want to be compatible with the firm.

Going Forward

I have been very focused on trying to make resources available on a wider variety of devices.  The rise of IOS and Android devices are examples of new things we are trying to accommodate.  This is one reason we decided to move our mail system to Google.  The recent addition of iTimeKeep for time entry, that will run on just about anything, is a great improvement over Webview, which required a VPN connection and only runs on certain version of Internet Explorer.

We will continue to move in the direction of making mobility more accessible.  But compatibility is best when using a device running Windows, and a version of Windows that IT has tested and approved.