55% of Enterprise Can’t Upgrade to Windows 11

According to ZDNet, 55% of enterprise cannot upgrade to Windows 11, because of the arbitrary requirements.

This is a major problem for Microsoft. One they manufactured themselves and could have easily avoided!

Most workstation PCs, have very robust hardware and security built-in too!

Upgrading expensive workstations in a few years, is not an option for many businesses.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-11-half-of-enterprise-workstations-dont-meet-the-new-system-requirements-says-survey/

Conversation 8 comments

  • miamimauler

    02 October, 2021 - 9:39 am

    <p>55% can’t update, not to mention how many will simply refuse to downgrade from W10 to W11.</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    02 October, 2021 - 1:24 pm

    <p>Microsoft is well aware of this statistic and every other related one as well. I suspect many businesses will stay on some kind of long term service branch of Windows 10 for another 3-5 years before worrying much about Windows 11. </p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      02 October, 2021 - 7:51 pm

      <p>Some enterprises may hold out for Windows 12, which could be a corrective to Windows 11.</p><p><br></p><p>I suspect enterprises are OK with the new hardware requirements, but few relish the prospect of the retraining costs Windows 11 would incur.</p>

  • StevenLayton

    02 October, 2021 - 5:47 pm

    <p>….yet. I think it’s fairly well understood that businesses are slow to upgrade OSs, even the 45% who have the hardware to do it today. By the time they have to, businesses will have modernised their PC fleet and will be free to do so.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      04 October, 2021 - 3:05 am

      <p>Also, if it is like Windows 10, businesses need to pay to upgrade, you don’t get a free upgrade, like consumers do. If the company has a Windows licensing programme with Software Assurance or Microsoft 365 E3 or above, they can upgrade, but that is mainly larger companies, which will probably be slower to adopt Windows 11 anyway.</p><p><br></p><p>Certainly we aren’t looking at swapping to Windows 11 any time soon – and we went through a big refresh in the last 2 years, so a majority of the hardware should now be compatible.</p>

  • j5

    Premium Member
    03 October, 2021 - 1:39 am

    <p>I don’t think this is a major concern nor problem right now for Microsoft or Enterprise customers. Most be corporations move very slow deliberately before upgrading all their computers to a new OS. They need time to test their hardware and software (custom software/legacy software) with the new OS. And all this on top of maintaining the current system. I’m betting Microsoft will be supporting Windows 10 for a long time. Corporations aren’t like home users where they just need to worry about 1 or a handful of computers and it be done in a weekend.</p>

  • simont

    Premium Member
    03 October, 2021 - 1:04 pm

    <p>I don’t think this a problem for Microsoft in the short term. Most businesses upgrade their hardware on a 3 – 5 year cycle depending on depreciation, so they will just upgrade to compatible hardware in a slow process. And a large amount of companies are very conservative and will only upgrade to Windows 11 after extensive testing. I know of several companies that will wait for Windows 11 2022H1 before considering doing an upgrade.</p>

    • ringofvoid

      04 October, 2021 - 1:42 pm

      <p>More specifically the devices in this 55% pool, (7th gen Intel &amp; older which are already 3-4 years old) will generally be replaced long before Windows 10 goes EOL. Sure they can’t upgrade now but hardly any business was going to do that anyways. </p><p><br></p><p>I certainly feel bad for the employees of any company that routinely issues 9+ year old Windows devices but I have no sympathy for the company inflicting that pain on them.</p>

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