Microsoft will no longer be supporting or patching Windows Server 2003 after July 14, 2015. If you are a current Colden Company customer and are reading this, you are no doubt aware and have already migrated to a supported platform. If you are not a current Colden Company customer and are running Windows Server 2003 in your environment, we strongly encourage you to plan for an upgrade. The security risk of staying on any unsupported platform is a compelling reason to consider an upgrade, especially given the climate surrounding hacking and viruses in today’s electronic world. There are many options available for an upgrade path that can benefit your organization. At a minimum, you will benefit from faster performance with new in-office server hardware and the latest Microsoft operating systems, but options like cloud-based infrastructure may increase your company’s security and access to data while reducing the capital expenditure. There is an old proverb that says the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. If you are still running Windows Server 2003, while it is very late in the game, planning your migration is better done now if not already done over the last year.
In other news, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will be released to customers on July 29, 2015 as part of a free upgrade offer. The method of delivery for the free upgrade is via a Get Windows 10 app/notification that has been appearing on PCs for several weeks. Note that this notification does not appear if your PCs are part of a corporate Windows domain. If you or your employees reserve the upgrade, Windows 10 will be downloaded automatically to the PC when it becomes available.
While Windows 10 offers many interesting new features and enhancement as we discussed in detail in previous blog postings, Colden Company does not recommend that your business PCs be upgraded to Windows 10 on release day. Colden Company has been testing Windows 10 since test versions were made available, but your key business software has not been tested for compatibility. Evaluating compatibility, training needs, etc. should be done prior to your business considering the upgrade.
If you’re using a Windows 7- or Windows 8.1-based PC that is not on a corporate Windows domain, you should notice a Windows flag icon in your system tray. This is the Get Windows 10 reservation launcher.
Clicking the Windows Flag icon will launch the reservation wizard. If you do not want employees initiating the upgrade process, please make your employees aware of this and ask that they not click on “Reserve your free upgrade.” Again, if an employee reserves the upgrade, it will download to their PC on the release date. While it will not install automatically, it will download 3+ GB to each and every PC that has reserved the upgrade.
If an employee notifies you that they reserved the upgrade, please let us know and we can cancel the reservation. While there are many benefits to Windows 10, like any upgrade, it should be planned and coordinated to best benefit your business.
Does your business have a plan for the Windows 10 rollout? Are you still running Windows Server 2003 and need help migrating to a supported and secure operating system? Colden Company is ready to help you with these issues and many more. Call us at (888) 600-4560 or email us at info@coldencompany.com, or see us on Facebook or Twitter to plant a tree for your business.