Gartner's Windows 11 adoption advice: Explore but don't rush
- Reference: 1633586515
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/10/07/gartner_windows_11_advice/
- Source link:
In advice titled "Positioning Windows 11 and Preparing to Deploy", Gartner research vice president Stephen Kleynhans assesses the new OS as offering an "overdue facelift" and praises new features such as the new Microsoft Store, Android app support, and ditching Internet Explorer.
But Kleynhans also opined "All of these capabilities could have been released as just another feature update for Windows 10".
[1]
The new name, he suggests, is about creating buzz rather than marking important change. By calling it Windows 11, he opines, Microsoft “has created a marketing opportunity for the PC ecosystem.
[2]
[3]
"A new OS version acts as a rallying point for the industry – something that has been missing since Windows 10 launched six years ago."
Turning Windows up to 11 also found approval from Kleynhans because he feels "the move to the Windows-as-a-service model with Windows 10 had left the question of support for outdated hardware somewhat unclear and arbitrary".
[4]
Renaming Windows – even if the upgrade isn't worthy of a new moniker – means Microsoft gained "an opportunity to establish a new more modern baseline and limit this legacy burden, without impacting existing Windows 10 users".
Kleynhans rates Windows 11's most significant change as its new cadence of annual feature updates, compared to Windows 10's twice-yearly releases. "This model more closely matches what most enterprises are effectively doing with Windows 10 feature updates today," he wrote.
[5]Want to check out Windows 11 but don't want to buy a new PC? Here's how to bypass the hardware requirements
[6]Windows 11 in detail: Incremental upgrade spoilt by onerous system requirements and usability mis-steps
[7]Microsoft's problem child, Windows 11, is here. Will you run it? Can you run it? Do you even WANT to run it?
[8]Microsoft shows off Office 2021 for consumers ahead of the coming of Windows 11
The analyst doesn't think you need to rush into Windows 11.
Kleynhans recommends just two immediate actions for business. One is creation of a timeline for evaluation of and migration to Windows 11, with testing to start in the first half of 2022. The other is to conduct limited tests among folk in your IT and ops teams.
"Enterprises should run small pilots in 2022 using the initial Windows 11 21H2 release, to develop familiarity with the new UX and understand potential user and support impact," he suggests.
[9]
If you're not already using unified endpoint management, the analyst suggests adopting it should be on your short-term to-do list, too. It'll be needed to manage Windows 11.
"Once the 22H2 update ships, begin serious evaluation using the same tools and processes used for Windows 10 feature updates," he adds.
Kleynhans doesn't expect rapid mass adoption.
"By early 2023, less than ten per cent of new enterprise PCs will be deployed with Windows 11," he suggests. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YV7FYXcZGX5gLOPhQv0jRAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YV7FYXcZGX5gLOPhQv0jRAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YV7FYXcZGX5gLOPhQv0jRAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YV7FYXcZGX5gLOPhQv0jRAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/06/bypass_windows_11_requirements/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/05/windows_11_in_detail/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/05/windows_11/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/04/office_2021_consumer/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YV7FYXcZGX5gLOPhQv0jRAAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Not in any hurry...
I'm still on Win7Pro64 & waiting to see if Win10 ever becomes fit for purpose. So far I've yet to hear a single story about an MS update that did *not* break something. It refuses to let me install my screen reader, so I refuse to "upgrade". If Win11 is even half as unstable as Win10 has been, I'll not be upgrading to it either. At what point will MS snap out of their delusional haze, pull their collected heads out of their singular arse, & wake up to the reality that a never ending subscription to a never ending series of forced "improvements" is the absolute *worst* path forward they can take? Sure it's profitable in the short term, but eventually all those corporations are going to conclude that it costs them too much money to remain tied to the MS behemoth. If you've just spent a couple hundred million to upgrade everything to Win10 & now MS is telling you that your hardware will need replacing in less than five years, how many of them will give MS TheFinger? Do you *really* want to do it all over again before the hardware is nearing the point where it needs to be refreshed for technical reasons rather than because MS says you have to? And for everyone *not* a corporation able to woo MS with the prospect of a fat sack of cash, we're "stuck" either sticking to an OS that just works (Win7), shits all over us (Win10), or thinks that putting a different shade of lipstick on the pig makes us want to rush out & spend yet more money to replace kit that still works fine, just is "too old" as far as MS is concerned. Fuck that. My Intel NUC with a 4th gen I3 @ 1.8GHz, 16Gb RAM, & a 256Gb SSD is still fast enough for my needs, so why should I be forced to upgrade to something that has yet to prove it is as fit for purpose as what I'm already running?
Re: Not in any hurry...
Absolutely correct. It's irrelevant what 'improvements' are made in the OS, if the front-end UI is an unusable, unintuitive mess with all commonly used functionality that has been present for the past 20 years either hidden or removed completely, then it is not fit for purpose.
I also notice MS are saying this 'upgrade' is to enable better security. Well if they'd have built it sensibly in the first place instead of pushing out the dogs dinner they did in NT and building on top of that things would probably be a lot better now.
It seriously is no surprise that more home users are moving over to the various flavours of Linux as in most cases there's no major impediment and the hardware specs required don't really matter a jot.
Re: Not in any hurry...
If you've just spent a couple hundred million updating everything to run Windows 10 and the hardware won't run Windows 11 then you've been ripped off by your hardware vendor.
So let's say you did it 4 years ago (because hardware from 3 years ago can run Windows 11), and Windows 10 is supported until 2025, that means your hardware will be 8 years old by the time you're "forced" to upgrade.
Not the longest refresh cycle I've seen, but it's up there!
Re: Not in any hurry...
Hold up. You are suggesting that when I upgraded I bought the fastest and the best not what was more than up to the job. My processor is from 2012 (release date) and is more than fast enough for whatever I throw at it. My personal upgrade cycle is when it's twice as fast/powerful and I've been doing that since 386. I'm not going to change that now because MS want me to shell money out I don't need to.
Re: Not in any hurry...
"At what point will MS snap out of their delusional haze, pull their collected heads out of their singular arse, & wake up to the reality that a never ending subscription to a never ending series of forced "improvements" is the absolute *worst* path forward they can take?"
Probably when the money dries up.
Kleynhans doesn't expect rapid mass adoption.
With the hardware requirements to run it I am not surprised.
Looking forward to windows 12
That's the one where Microsoft remove all the amazing new features we didn't want in the first place.
The key point that Kleynhans made was that 11 is the thin end of the wedge that will become Windows as a service.
When 10 was being introduced, I commented here that it was a prelude to an 'As a service' model because MS had made remarks back then that indicated it was probably in their plans.
The fact that so many businesses are kumping on the AAS bandwagon makes it clear the model is to the benefit of the seller and not the customer.
It will become a standard model for a time until someone reintroduces what will be the 'novel' approach of customers actually owning what they have paid for.
All the way up to 11
Beer for the inevitable 11 knob in the piccie.
Can't help wondering if this release is known internally as "spinal crap".
Re: All the way up to 11
Why not just make 10 louder work?
"Analyst firm says new OS doesn't offer much to biz, so doesn't warrant rapid upgrade"
.. but everyone will anyway because they just can't help themselves. They are addicted to the treadmill of bullsh*t.
So Gartner thinks uptake will still be less than 10%, a full year after launch and only three years from the end of W10 support?
That's... Pretty damning, I'd say.
It's Gartner. Just means MS didn't put enough in the envelope.
Wow...
Another stunning piece by Gartner.
Cue a thousand directors telling every Windows admin on the planet "I personally think its not a good idea to roll out a brand new version of Windows just yet."
Then sits back bathing in his knowledge of IT.