Microsoft Partners See Savings In Windows 7

But unlike Vista, Windows 7 runs well on older hardware, and Dimension Data is advising customers that they do have options in terms of getting more life out of existing assets and avoiding an expensive forklift refresh.

Dimension Data has about 200 PCs running Windows 7, and Wheadon says it has been "a great experience" compared with previous Windows beta deployments.

"One big positive is the fact that we haven't had to consider getting the latest and greatest PCs to run Windows 7," Wheadon said. "It typically runs faster than Vista, and even runs well on older machines that we didn't even try putting Vista onto."

Dimension Data still has customers using XP, but many are considering new hardware to better manage their state and to take advantage of virtualization and supporting technologies that go around the desktop, Wheadon said.

"This is probably the first operating system from Microsoft where upgrading to a new OS will actually give you better performance than the previous OS did," Wheadon said.

From the dawn of Windows 7 development, Microsoft has painstakingly gathered feedback from partners to ensure that it doesn't end up being a sequel to the horror show that was Vista. The Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Ecosystem Readiness Program, which gives Microsoft's software and hardware partners access to beta software builds, development and testing tools, community interaction and technical documentation, is an example of this.

Nicholls expects Windows 7 deployments will be less expensive than Vista as a result of the improved migration tools in the new OS. But to realize this, companies should deploy Windows 7 in conjunction with the System Center suite, Nicholls said.

"Windows 7 deployments are going to be much easier than they were with Vista. That represents a huge cost savings," Nicholls said.

"Windows 7 is a huge psychological correction: It's a much better product, and we're more optimistic about it."