back to article Windows 11 migration? Upgrade engine revs up, enterprises have no choice

Windows 11 migration projects, long hoped for by Microsoft and PC chums, are picking up. But a report from asset management biz Lansweeper indicates the rush is on with "millions" of devices still running Windows 10. Just last month, Michael Dell - you know who he is - and HP CEO Enrique Lores - admitted that enterprise …

  1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Big if

    What if they keep the hardware and move to Linux?

    1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

      Re: Big if

      That may not be viable. Large enterprises have an awful lot of infrastructure to replace or update if they change operating systems. Domain controllers, MDM systems, software deployment servers. Then there is sourcing the software, and training. Open source may not be an option because while it is mostly excellent, and probably would work, large companies like to have someone who is responsible (in a legal sense) for the software, and someone they can sue if it doesn't work..

      That said, if they are having to buy an entire fleet of PCs, that would offset the cost of upgraded the server infrastructure.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Big if

        And they'll go through the Microsoft replacement cycle every few years as opposed to going through the replace Microsoft cycle once.

    2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: Big if

      Oh knock it off.

      If companies could do that without totally disrupting the back-end services, they would have done it already.

      Stop touting Linux as the obvious solution to all IT woes. It isn't.

      Not without a hell of lot of expensive preperation and the full support of management up and down the hierarchy.

      1. m4r35n357 Silver badge

        Re: Big if

        Let's see, Linux has been around since the early nineties. So more than thirty years to identify M$s abusive practices, against Linux, BeOS etc. (even IBM), and later their own users.

        Thirty whole years to do something about it.

        I say live with your bad decisions, suckers!

        And don't complain when we say we told you so!

        1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

          Oh I absolutely agree.

          Windows only exists in the business market because of the vast amount of sheeple who can't, for the life of them, imagine using anything else.

          Unfortunately, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

          Those who are intelligent enough to use Linux already are.

          The morons are infected with Windows and will remain so.

      2. elsergiovolador Silver badge

        Re: Big if

        Many corporations only keep Windows because of Office.

        I mentioned Linux, but I've seen corporations abandoned PCs and moved to Macs. Given Apple hardware is still league above anything that is currently on the market and surprisingly competitively priced, many employees were actually very happy with this.

        1. David Austin

          Re: Big if

          With Microsoft's overall push for cloud, I bet there's been several interesting and shouty internal conversations between the Windows division and the Azure division over Office for Linux...

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Big if

          What you mean is "expensive, not upgradable and locked in". Apple simply isn't an option if you e.g. need lots of memory, because Apple doesn't sell such configs and the memory is soldered.

      3. navarac Silver badge

        Re: Big if

        Linux might not be "the obvious solution to all IT woes". It is, however, a viable alternative for a lot of users, especially SMB's. I gave being hostage to Microsoft as soon as I saw the mess that is Windows 11 from the start, and it has not got any better.

        I feel truly sorry for those compelled to use Windows, for whatever reason and in whatever environment. As "David Austen" comments, there is going to be lot of usable second-hand kit about next year for us Linux users.

        1. Disgusted of Cheltenham

          Re: Big if

          So when will there be a system upgrade available for home users (without games) to go from Windows 10 to, say, Ubuntu?

    3. David Austin

      Re: Big if

      Many SMB and Enterprise IT houses are - rightly or wrongly - dependent on Windows; The idea of moving to *nix to keep perfectly fine pre 2018/2019 kit just won't come up as a discussion point for many of them; They'd rather run Windows 10 unsupported than switch OS.

      So, rather than predicting a big uptick on Desktop Linux installs, I'm going to say if you're a hobbyist or enthusiast, get ready for some amazing deals on powerful-but-old enterprise kit - Get ready to grab a good deal on your next project box.

    4. Chz

      Re: Big if

      While the hardware requirements at launch were perhaps a bit demanding of newer equipment, by the time Windows 10 support ends the oldest supported CPU will be 8 years old. Most companies are keeping their PCs for longer, but few of them are stretching out past 8 years.

  2. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge

    0patch

    Never used it, but supposedly there's always 0patch.

    https://0patch.com/

    1. DailyLlama

      Re: 0patch

      There is very little chance that my company would allow me to install patches for Windows that are not written by Microsoft...

    2. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: 0patch

      Wow, that looks interesting. PC Mag did a writeup on it which highlights some of the flaws and limitations. If nothing else, the methodology of developing transient, in-memory patches to address vulnerabilities seems like an innovative one, and I'm curious to see where it goes.

    3. TReko Silver badge

      Re: 0patch

      Thanks for that link - looks very useful indeed!

  3. Bill Gates

    I bet Windows 10 will have a last minute support extension.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Under the form of an expensive contract, maybe, but for the global user population ? Not a chance.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Praying to $deity that those nice folks who came up with the BypassESU scripts for Windows 7 are on the case!

  4. dippy1

    And when does windows 11 support end?

    Just so enterprises can prepare early for the next upgrade..........

    Or when does windows 12 arrive?

    1. Sandtitz Silver badge

      Re: And when does windows 11 support end?

      Just so enterprises can prepare early for the next upgrade..........

      Windows 11 24H2 IoT is given a 10 year lifecycle, starting last week. So, 2034 minimum. End date for Win11 has not been discussed yet.

      https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc

      1. Yorick Hunt Silver badge

        Re: And when does windows 11 support end?

        Yeah, they also said that Windows 10 would last forever - don't trust anything they say.

  5. m4r35n357 Silver badge

    Nelson Muntz

    Ha-Ha!

  6. chivo243 Silver badge
    Coat

    0.01%

    Windows 2000 still on the board!! Vista not so much!

  7. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Whats

    Greenpeace's phone number?

    Or any one of the various eco-lobby groups.

    I'm sure they'd be interested in

    "Microsoft force the scrapping of 100s of thousands of perfectly good personal computers just so they can sell you the latest windows version."

    Naww didn't think they'd be interested.

  8. sggluther

    I'm clinging to Win10 until the day MS lets me move my taskbar

    Title says it all. A Taskbar spreading across the bottom of a 34-inch-wide monitor is ridiculous. Vertical (top to bottom) screen real estate is precious.

  9. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge

    My new Win11 machine

    just arrived yesterday and I have 3 weeks to move everything over and ship the old machine back. After messing with my daughter's Win11 machine I am NOT looking forward to this.

    My personal machine still runs Win7, and is literally falling apart. I bought a new machine to run Linux on but before I could the wifi card went bad during a Microsoft update, and several attempts to use Linux have not worked. I guess I'll have to buy yet another machine. I may be forced to use Windows at work, but that doesn't mean I have to.

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