Windows 7? YES!

90% of the workstations we manage for our clients are XP Pro. Not many of our clients ever upgraded or installed Vista in their environments, either the anti-hype was just to great or Windows XP Pro SP2 was a solid desktop operating system, I think a little of both. But, here we are, 9 years after the launch of XP and Microsoft has announced they are only going to offer critical security updates for XP Pro going forward until 2014. Windows 7 is now 3 months old and so far the reviews aren't bad, in fact I think Microsoft has a winner. So is it time to start considering a move to Windows 7? I say yes and here are some of the advantages to having Windows 7.
Remote Productivity - If you have multiple offices, sharing large files will start to be a little easier. With a new feature called BranchCache. Using Windows 7 in conjunction with Server 2008, businesses can enable the new BranchCache technology, the first user to download a file from the corporate office will have to wait for the download as usual, then the file is cached locally, so the next person who needs the file will be able to get the file from the locally hosted file.
Secure Mobile Access - With a new technology from Microsoft called, DirectAccess users will be allowed to remotely access company networks without using a VPN. For businesses of all sizes this will reduce the complexity and cost of allowing remote users access to network resources.
Security and Control - With Vista, Microsoft introduced a new technology called BitLocker, which allowed a user a quick and easy way to encrypt data on a drive. With Windows 7 this feature has been improved and is now called "BitLocker to Go" which is notably easier to use than in Vista and can also protect data on USB drives.
Compatibility - I think the biggest concern for most companies considering a move to any new operating system is whether or not their line of business applications will run. Windows 7 Microsoft has introduced XP Mode. This is not the same as compatibility mode, available in previous versions, Windows 7 will actually launch your program in a virtual XP client.
If your employees never used Vista there will be an initial learning curve with regard to the user interface, but like most things, do it for a few days and they will find the user interface has many more productivity enhancements which make using the computer easier.