Over half of UK firms to move to Windows 7 within a year

Forrester research shows more than 80 per cent of firms still running Windows XP

Windows 7 is set to outshine its predecessor

More than half of UK businesses plan to move to Windows 7 over the next 12 months, accordign to research.

The Forrester Research survey found that 53 per cent of the UK decision makers polled plan to run Windows 7 on their systems within a year. It also found that even though Vista has been available for two and a half years, 81 per cent of business PCs are still running its predecessor, Windows XP.

Forrester senior analyst Ben Gray advised businesses looking to upgrade to Windows 7 to:

1) Start or accelerate application compatibility testing against the Windows 7 RTM code

2) Plan for rolling out Windows 7 in small batches on new hardware initially

3) Weigh the costs and benefits of upgrading existing machines with at least 2GB of memory.

Gray also said firms should "start developing training sessions, tips and guidance, as well as prepare for users who are more knowledgeable and keen to be early adopters."

The survey, Enterprise And SMB Hardware Survey, North America and Europe, Q3 2009, polled 655 decision makers from North America and Europe about their Windows 7 adoption strategy. Of those respondents, 58 were from the UK.