I wanted to wait until all the hype around Windows 7 died down a bit before sharing my thoughts with you about the recently released OS. I have heard some good things about Windows 7, but then again heard the same thing about every other version of Windows, including Vista.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Wolfgang Kandek, the CTO of security vendor Qualys. Wolfgang had some positive things to say about Windows 7. He said it had some good security features that it inherited from Vista and improved upon. I asked when he thought we would see malware for Windows 7. He said that since Windows 7 is new, users should be safe from malware for a while.

I am using the same cautious process as I have used with every other version of Windows. I usually wait until the first service pack is released before I would even consider deploying it into production. In the mean time, I will load it onto computers in a lab and begin to test it with other applications in my environment. I just don't see a rush to upgrade to upgrade right now,as Mike Vizard points out in his blog. Over on our CTO Edge site, Wayne Rash lays out some key points to consider in your migration planning.

I think that corporations will adopt Windows 7 slowly. The main reason is that unless you are deploying it on hardware that is less than two years old, you will need to upgrade it. I don't think that it makes sense to pay for a copy of Windows and load it on an older piece of hardware when you can buy a new PC with the OS loaded for a little more than the price of the OS.