Are you an early adopter … one of those technophiles who camps out overnight at the Apple Store to be first in line for the latest iPhone? Or are you someone who finally gave up on dot matrix printing just last year?
Either approach, like most things in life, comes with downsides of spectrum extreme. Early adopters are frequently live-action guinea pigs and end up ‘helping’ the manufacturer find any remaining bugs. Plus, they get to pay a little more for the experience. The holdouts, on the other hand, miss out on the productivity gains provided by newer technology; aaaaaand they have to endure the frustration of working with products that are no longer supported by the makers.
Are you ready to welcome Windows 9?
(And here it seems like only yesterday we were wondering where Windows 8 put the Start Button.) If Windows 9 seems a little premature to you, you aren’t alone. Though Microsoft has tried to euthanize faithful old XP, one out of five businesses continue to run it for one thing or another. Windows 7 is currently the platform of choice for businesses, with some on Windows 8. There’s even a few hold-outs on the Edsel of operating systems, Vista.
So what should you do?
Well, if you are still on XP, you know it’s probably that ‘time’ (which is why we’re working with you on a migration plan.) Same thing for Vista. However if you’re running Windows 7 or certainly 8, we’d advise you to stay put … for a while at least. Though there may be some neat new bells and whistles on Windows 9, experience tells us an upgrade at this point probably won’t be worth the expense or hassle.
We at SynchroNet advise you to keep your current platform in place until those platforms either becomes obsolete or until your hardware needs to be retired/replaced. When we roll out new hardware in your environment, that’s when we’ll recommend the proper operating system specific to your business. The compatibility of your business applications, your growth plans, and your best interests are the only factors that affect our recommendations. We want to minimize the learning curve required of your staff to ensure maximum productivity.
But if you “just gotta have” Window’s 9, that’s okay. We’ll get you set up … but try to hold off on the sleeping bags.
