Windows 7 – Worth IT?

As you might recall, last year I wrote a piece on Windows Vista, and the benefits it offered to the organization that I was working for at the time. With the advent of Windows 7, I felt it would be worth my time to do another piece on Windows 7. Many of the benefits of Windows Vista still apply to Windows 7, as Windows 7 is built on the OS re-architecture that Windows Vista introduced, particularly on the administrative end. With that in mind, I’ve only highlighted the notable changes (from my view) that would affect the way I work.

Before we delve into the features, let me elaborate on the broader picture first. I still maintain that Windows Vista was an incredible OS from an IT administrative side of view. No matter how many faults Microsoft made with the development of Longhorn/Vista, the re-architecture of the OS building blocks was much needed, and it was plain that Microsoft put a lot of thought/time into it. It is best to think of Vista as a turning point in the way Microsoft develops Windows. Anytime an OS is fundamentally ‘rebuilt’, the change is going to be drastic. In this case, Microsoft put a lot of effort into rebuilding the OS for the future, so most of the changes were made in the backend. This why so many IT administration benefits were readily apparent.

Of course, when you rebuild an OS, there will be compatibility problems. I make no excuses for Microsoft here, and neither did they. It was to be expected. Vista was a stepping stone. I don’t fault them for the compatibility issues. I do however, fault them for the performance issues. You should NEVER require a drastic jump in system specs to run even the ‘basic’ version of your software, especially if it’s an operating system. Vista couldn’t run on many moderately older PC’s. Consumers will not want something that runs slower than what they currently have. It becomes very expensive for a consumer or organization to adopt a new OS if they need to purchase new PC’s. Microsoft has only itself to blame for slow adoption rates.

Microsoft seems to be trying to avoid the mistakes it made with Windows Vista. They reeeeeally focused on performance this time around. Compatibility problems are minimal, especially considering that Windows Vista was the slow beast that took much of the brunt of the architecture change-induced compatibility problems. Most software and hardware drivers that are compatible with Windows Vista are compatible with Windows 7. Microsoft had to spend much of their time developing the backend for Windows Vista, and left scarce resources for the front-end development. In Windows 7, they had the luxury of much of the backend being ready, and could focus on front-end, user-facing features. These 3 reasons are likely to help spur Windows 7 adoption rates compared to Windows Vista.

With these thoughts in mind, lets look at the features of Windows 7.

DirectAccess – DirectAccess is a feature worth salivating over. It provides benefits both to IT admins and end users. The client takes their laptop home, or to the airport, and Windows 7 will transparently setup an encrypted VPN connection to the work server. To the client, all their network drives suddenly appear, and they have access to their corporate email, all without needing to run any configuration commands. The IT admin can push out patch files and updates over this VPN connection as well. DirectAccess essentially provides easy-to-use WAN administration for the admin, and LAN-like usage for the client.
BranchCache – Not a feature I’ll need to use in the near future. However, for larger corporate networks, the ability to cache files on a local branch server will likely save on a lot of network throughput.
Booting VHD’s Natively- Another feature worth salivating over. Windows 7 provides the ability to boot a VHD (virtual hard drive) natively. Benefits of this are numerous. One usage I could definitely see happening is using a locally stored VHD as a ‘spare tire’. Perhaps the user is in Japan with a laptop and can’t boot up Windows, and has no access to physical support. By providing them with the ability to boot into a VHD, you give them the ability to continue working, and repair the machine when they arrive home.
XP Mode – One of the most shocking but impressive features from a compatibility point of view. Being able to run legacy apps in a virtual XP box transparently, similar to VMWare Fusion’s coherence mode is impressive. The ability to assign a separate set of GPO’s even more so. It’s perfect for legacy apps.
Bitlocker To Go – BitLocker is now a ‘proper’ drive encryption utility. Encrypting removable drives is just as important as encrypting the internal drive. I am curious however, as to how well the decryption scheme works on other domain computers. A removable drive is pointless if only one computer can read it. I would assume the AD storage of the BitLocker key would be required.
Performance – You don’t need to buy new computers to run it!
Better UAC – Much less nagging, more granular control. Need I say more?
AppLocker – Very granular control over which exe’s are allowed to run, mostly based on the file’s metadata. You can also set permissions via whitelist instead of blacklisting far too many apps.
VPN Reconnect – Self-explanatory. If the VPN connection dies, it will transparently reconnect when available. No re-authentication and the like.
Mobile Broadband Device Support – Perfect for giving your users the ability to provide their own mobile Internet connection. This driver framework allows them to purchase their own WWAN device, plug it in and use the Internet connection.
WUSA.exe Uninstall Support – Unused by most, but the Windows Update Standalone Installer now supports uninstall packages. Very useful addition.
Expanded Group Policy Preferences – Last year I wrote about my thoughts for the implementation of GPP in our environment. Windows 7 provides a few extra options, notably for performance profiles.

I hope to update with more details in the future. More pressing things calling at the moment however. Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment below.

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