BANGALORE, INDIA: Most organizations should be planning and testing Windows 7 this year, and most organizations should try to eliminate Windows XP by the end of 2012, according to IT research and advisory company Gartner, Inc.

Gartner analysts said organizations need to decide when to begin their migration to Windows 7, set a target date to have Windows XP out, and decide whether to deploy Windows 7 to all PCs, only to new PCs, or to a mix.

“In various Gartner polls and surveys, 80 per cent of respondents report skipping Windows Vista. With Windows XP getting older and Windows 8 nowhere in sight, organizations need to be planning their migrations to Windows 7,” said Michael Silver, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

He said Windows 7 has been getting positive reviews, and many clients report that they have plans to start their production deployments. “But there are some that are still undecided about when to start and how quickly to do the migration.”

Gartner believes that organizations need to get Windows XP out before Microsoft ends support for it in April 2014, and if possible, they should eliminate it by the end of 2012 when new versions of many applications are not expected to support XP, and independent software vendors (ISVs) will increasingly eliminate XP support.

“Organizations wanting to do as much of the migration as possible though PC refresh or attrition, should begin by deciding on a start date,” said Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner.

Taking the attrition approach will immediately identify the time scale for the project. Organizations should consider their PC refresh rate and their target end date in order to determine how many PCs can be moved to Windows 7 by attrition, added Gartner. However, based on the typical PC refresh rate, many organizations will not be able to get Windows XP out by their target end date by moving to Windows 7 by attrition alone.