The imminent release of Windows 7 is expected to boost IT sales as many Australian businesses are looking to upgrade to the new software.
According to an earlier report from IDC, Windows 7 is expected to sell 40 million copies during 2009 and up to 177 million units by the end of 2010. About 19 per cent of the global IT workforce is expected to be using Windows 7 by the end of next year.
IDC also predicts that revenue from sales could reach at least US$8 billion by the end of this year, as the release of Windows 7 is expected to create a boost in IT spending for retailers and tech support companies.
A survey from tech company Data #3 reveals 67 per cent of companies with over 1000 employees are considering upgrading their computers to Windows 7 within the next six months. Further, 83 per cent of companies with between 100-1000 employees are looking to upgrade.
"One of the major deployment challenges posed by Windows Vista was application compatibility, as some key corporate applications were incompatible on release,” said Data #3 Microsoft services practice manager Scott Gosling in a statement.
He pointed out that these challenges are still fresh in many CIOs’ minds and new approaches are available with the release of Windows 7 to address application compatibility challenges for corporate applications.
"These tools provided by Microsoft give organisations the ability to test application compatibility ahead of time, and provide a remediation mechanism should challenges exist," he said.