BCD Consulting LLC

Desktop Operating Systems

XP was first introduced in 2000 with full shipping commencing in 2001. One could easily say this has been the absolute best Desktop OS Microsof has ever produced. For an Operating System to have lived 14 years is a testament to the Microsoft Developers who architected and have supported the OS all these years.

At some point, though, any company cannot conitune to provide support on older products and the typical Microsoft support model has been to provide support up to three levels back (including the current) of a product. Therefore, with Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8/8.1, XP became the fourth product and something had to give.

Windows 7 has proven to be all that Vista was supposed to have been and in its' short life time, Windows 7 has proven to be as stable if not more stable than XP. Windows 8/8.1 is in infancy stage and remains to be seen how well Microsoft will fix the User Interface when it comes to the business enviorment.

The migration path from XP to any other Microsoft Desktop OS is as follows:

  • XP->Vista (upgrade over XP)
  • XP->Windows 7 (requires clean install if not going to Vista first)
  • XP->Windows 8/8.1 (requires clean install if not going to Vista and then Windows 7)

    • Experience has proven the best method, which ensures success, is a clean install rather than the upgrade. And obivously at this late date, no one is going to spend money to purchase Vista nor the time involved in the various scenarios.

    Does this mean new hardware too? Not necessarily, it might be possible to either backup the contents of a harddisk or replace the harddisk and install the new system on the existing hardware. However if your business is still running Intel P4 processors, the cost of replacing the equipment with newer technology may actually be cheaper than trying to get the older hardware to work properly.

    BCD Consulting LLC is readily able to assist your business in determing the optimal path to take in upgrading from XP to either Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1. As well, BCD Consulting LLC is able to provide guidance in upgrading MS Office from 2003 to 2007, 2010, or 2013.