Poll reveals user love for Windows 7
44% 'very satisfied' with beta, says research firm; just 10% of early Vista users said the same
Computerworld - Beta testers of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 7 are four times more likely to be happy with what they're seeing than were early users of Windows Vista, a factor that's driving more than half the companies surveyed to dump Vista adoption plans, a market research company said.
In a poll of corporate IT professionals conducted by ChangeWave Research, 44% of the 68 users testing Windows 7 said that they were "very satisfied" with the beta.
A similar survey by ChangeWave in February 2007 -- just weeks after Vista's launch -- found just 10% of the respondents expressing the same level of satisfaction.
The ChangeWave researchers who conducted the poll, Andy Golub and Mike Wrobel, said that those who are happy with Windows 7 cited the new operating system's improved performance as a big reason for their reaction. "Takes less memory and boots faster, and reminds me of a new XP," one IT professional told the researchers.
In the same survey, Golub and Wrobel polled approximately 2,000 enterprise users responsible for IT purchases to find out their companies' current Windows plans. According to the poll, 53% of the respondents said that their businesses are going to skip Vista altogether and instead wait for the arrival of Windows 7. Only 15% said that their organizations would proceed with a Vista rollout.
About one in seven -- or roughly 14% -- said that their companies were already deferring some PC and server purchases in anticipation of Windows 7.
"The Windows 7 beta has so far received a much warmer reception than Vista," noted Golub and Wrobel in their analysis last week. "Of course, beta testers tend to be hard-core techies, and the ultimate test is how satisfaction holds up when mainstream users get their hands on the new software."
Microsoft has not yet set a ship date for Windows 7, saying only that it would deliver the operating system by early 2010. Three months ago, it issued the one, and only, public beta, and it has said that it will follow that with a more stable release candidate in the upcoming weeks.
Windows 7
- Microsoft: Windows 7 will nag users 29% less often
- Preston Gralla: We'll cripple Windows 7 on netbooks, says Microsoft
- Microsoft leaks Windows 7 RC delivery date
- Review: Windows 7 Beta 1 shows off new taskbar, more UI goodies
- Windows 7 tips, tricks and tweaks
- Preston Gralla: Windows 7 enterprise adoption is closer than you think
- Poll reveals user love for Windows 7
- 10 things Windows 7 must do to succeed
Read more about App Development in Computerworld's App Development Topic Center.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- The Keys to Distributed & Agile Application Development
- How leading firms are winning with strategies for efficient application development, without relying on co-location.
- Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
- As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
- Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
- Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
- Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
- Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
- Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
- Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will... All App Development White Papers
- Reduced TCO for Communications Applications with New Oracle SPARC Servers
- In this webcast learn how Oracle's new SPARC T4 servers and SPARC Supercluster deliver the security, performance, and scalability required for 4G network...
- Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
- Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
- Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
- Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn... All App Development Webcasts
