blog Large Windows 8 rollouts have been thin on the ground in Australia since Microsoft released its newest operating system last year, but there have been a handful exposed — and more are apparently coming. This morning iTNews adds Commonwealth Bank subsidiary Bankwest to the list. The media outlet reports (we recommend you click here for the full article):
“Bankwest is under a month away from starting to move its 4000+ staff off Windows XP and onto a new standard operating environment based on Windows 8.”
To our mind, we’d have to question the timing of this move, given that it’s only a few months until Microsoft formally releases version 8.1 of Windows 8, bringing with it a number of major improvements, such as, you know, the return of the Start Button. However, of course, Microsoft generally lets enterprise customers get early copies of its newest releases ahead of time, so I’m sure Bankwest already has a very good idea of what’s coming in the next iteration and is planning ahead for that. One wonders whether we’ll see more deployments of Windows 8 in Australia as 8.1 — which is broadly being seen as the first major ‘service pack’ for Windows 8 — lands.
Unless they’re in an early starter plan with Microsoft, they won’t have Windows 8.1 yet. Still an ETA of end of August for Enterprise customers.
I wouldn’t be rolling out Windows 8 yet, but finalising the SOE and sitting tight until 8.1 comes.
Yes, very strange not to wait for Windows 8.1…most curious…
Only think of can think of is the QA and comprehensive deployment testing for their environments won’t be insignificant and this may well have been a year or more in the planning, testing and qualification. The subsequent announcement and delivery of 8.1 will have been beyond the scope of their needs and objectives as planned, so they will further test and qualify this for authorised deployment as a subsequent patch, but as things stand they are satisfied that Windows 8 is stable, reliable, compatible with all their necessary systems and the staff retraining is ready to go with packages and trainers ready for delivery.
I’d love to be a bug on the support help desk’s wall in the week or two following this deployment – even the most comprehensively planned upgrade like this never goes off without a hitch once end users get involved. Should make for some interesting (frustrating)ttimes over there for a while ;-) Glad I’m not a customer…
windows 8 with citrix client and antivirus may be what there soe is made up of :-)
that’s exactly what I was thinking, and one major reason enterprises are holding off.
that’s exactly what I was thinking
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