Intel Facing Problems Updating To Windows 7

Intel and Microsoft worked closely together when Microsoft were building Windows 7, but there is still a lot of heavy lifting involved before migrating PCs to the new OS inside Intel’s environment, wrote Intel staff engineer Roy Ubry in a blog entry.

Because Intel is such a big corporation with countless software programs and who knows what else, they will undoubtedly experience more problems than your average user. Challenges they are facing include issues related to backward application compatibility, Web browser support, 64-bit computing and privacy controls.

Intel last year announced it would migrate from the nine-year-old Windows XP OS to Windows 7 OS, skipping Vista, which was released in 2007. Now the company has finally starting its transition to Windows 7 which they hope will be worth it since Windows 7 will let them save up to $11 Million in the next 3 years.

One of the biggest problems for Intel is migrating applications that can run natively on Windows XP to Windows 7. While Windows 7 has an XP mode in it, the move from Windows XP systems to 64-bit computing in Windows 7 presents a greater application compatibility challenge.

What’s more, Windows 7 no longer supports 16-bit programs, and Intel still has many legacy applications that will require the company to support older operating systems.

Initially, you would think this would not be a big concern; 32 bit computing has been around for many years, and most applications have been ported to 32 bit,. But for companies that want to migrate to Windows 7, the 16-bit programs will need to be changed to either 32-bit or 64-bit programs.

Wrote Ubry,

Another challenge involves the way Windows 7 deals with 32-bit programs. Windows 7 saves 32-bit programs on a different path normally in a directory called Program Files (x86) while 64-bit programs are just saved in the regular program files directory. This raises a set of problems while searching for specific applications,

Applications that are hard coded to look for ‘Program Files’ at runtime will fail when the application is installed in ‘Program Files (x86)’,”

Ubry said that it was a bit of a pain for Intel to make the move from 32 bit to 64 bit computing, but it was necessary. It prepares Intel for future computing needs and takes advantage of the higher memory capability of systems available on the market today. Personally I would have thought that Intel would have made this jump to 64 bit sooner than this since they do provide 64 bit compatible processors.

On the browser side of things, Intel have delayed updating to IE 7 and IE 8 as they are not compatible with specific add-ons and applications written for Internet Explorer 6. Windows 7 is shipped with Internet Explorer 8 so now Intel will have to make it work for them.

Intel are also having some problems with the new privacy features in Windows 7. While the UAC ( User Account Control ) feature has been much improved from Windows Vista, Intel are still having issues with programs which don’t seek permission from the user to run, instead they just close without warning. However Microsoft has provided an answer that could remedy the problem with the option to run the program as an administrator.

Intel are trying to make the upgrade to Windows 7 as easily and smoothly as possible and have taken some measures to ensure that business continues as normal. The company has set up application inventories and test environments and has established a “safety net” to run native XP applications. The safety net includes running XP applications in virtualized environments or using XP Mode which is built into Windows 7.

Despite all these issues and problems that Intel are experiencing, and the time that it takes, they are hoping that the update to Windows 7 will save them $11 Million in the next 3 years over Windows XP.