Mobility News

WATCH: What To Know Before Moving To Windows 10 With Vitalyst’s Wilmer Castro

Microsoft is getting serious about moving customers to Windows 10, announcing it will pull support from Windows 7 by January 2020.

Partners will play a big role in getting organizations up to speed on the new system. Wilmer Castro of Vitalyst, a provider of client learning solutions, discussed what partners and organizations should keep in mind ahead of the big switch.

“Anyone in your workforce with a laptop is going to be impacted by this change,” said Castro, director of learning development at Vitalyst, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Castro says there’s one big difference between the two systems.

“We’re looking at a shift of going from a project-based approach in deploying Windows to a more program continuous approach, where updates are going to be coming every 4-6 months,” explained Castro. “But you have the option to control that before you impact your users as a whole.”

One of the biggest assets to Windows 10 is its security capabilities. Users who choose to stay on Windows 7 will have to pay for Extended Support or VDI, Windows Virtual Desktop delivered on Azure, in order to continue to receive security updates.

“You are technically more prone to risk by the single fact that Microsoft isn’t on your back, testing and vetting for these new types of digital attacks,” said Castro.

Castro said organizations should begin the rollout on a small group of employees and then get feedback before rolling out the software company-wide.

“One of the things we try to help them establish is mechanisms for how they can capture the feedback, how users are struggling or leveraging the technology. All that information is critical for planning a broader rollout. “

Castro is featured in CRNtv’s video included in this article.