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Microsoft Claims Windows 10 Saves Enterprises 28% More Than They Claimed Last Year (computerworld.com)

"Microsoft this week boosted by 28% its claim of how much enterprises can save by deploying Windows 10," writes Computerworld. An anonymous reader quotes their report: The revised estimate came from a Microsoft-commissioned analysis first done in mid-2016 by Forrester Research. Then, Forrester said the per-worker savings over a three-year stretch would be $404. To reach that number, the research firm interviewed four Microsoft customers that had begun moving to Windows 10, then modeled a hypothetical organization with 24,000 Windows devices, and a large number of mobile workers among the 20,000 employees. Using that pretend company, Forrester forecast the difference between running Windows 10 and retaining Windows 7.

Late last year, Forrester interviewed another quartet of Windows early 10 adopters, then added that data to what it had originally. The new per-employee savings: $515 over three years, a jump of almost a third... Forrester's increase in the number of mobile workers -- the total climbed by 460 employees -- was the biggest factor in the changed estimate... The bottom line, said Forrester and Microsoft, was that the migration to Windows 10 would pay for itself -- the breakeven point when savings equal costs -- in 14 months.

The report says IT administrators "estimate a 20% improvement in management time, as Windows 10 requires less IT time to install, manage, and support with in-place deployment and more self-service functions," while because of the OS's security software, "security events requiring IT remediation are reduced or avoided by 33%."

31 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Our experience with forced driver updates... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    says the exact opposite. Too many of our Dell laptops won't even boot after an update to the video card driver. We disable it, but it just keeps coming back.

    1. Re:Our experience with forced driver updates... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      you have to strike it in the chest with a wooden stake...

    2. Re: Our experience with forced driver updates... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Even with SCCM, Silverlight (KB4013867) keeps installing itself. We have a crappy internal content management system that shows blank pages if Silverlight is installed so it's a huge problem. We lost an unemployment claim because after we fired someone for not showing up to work for three days, he claimed he didn't know that was our policy since he couldn't get to our handbook.

    3. Re: Our experience with forced driver updates... by Megane · · Score: 4, Funny

      You misspelled "Sliverblight". Hope this helps!

      I guess Microsoft just thought that Flash wasn't insecure enough and that they could do a better job.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  2. captain obvious is being obvious again by FudRucker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and Ford Motor Company claims Ford cars are best
    Chevrolet says their cars are best
    coca cola, vs pepsi etc...
    Haines vs Fruit of the Loom blah blah blah

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re: captain obvious is being obvious again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, no, no. It's an independent report from that paragon of objectivity, Forrester Research. Microsoft took a huge risk because Forrester's independent and highly ethical analysts could have found that Windows 10 is a security nightmare. But Microsoft's bet paid off when the Forrester analysts found instead that Windows 10 is the best evah.

    2. Re:captain obvious is being obvious again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      plus the new models have build in spyware, slow to a halt on the freeway for an 'update', every update rearranges location of crucial controls like lights and wipers, and they reboot constantly during rush hour.

  3. Alternative summary by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft says that buying their new product will save you more money than sticking with their previous product - so give them more of your money.

    Microsoft also says you could stand a bath.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Alternative summary by chispito · · Score: 3, Informative

      Microsoft says that buying their new product will save you more money than sticking with their previous product - so give them more of your money.

      Microsoft also says you could stand a bath.

      I can tell you are unfamiliar with Windows enterprise licensing. Check out this brief Wikipedia article on the MS Enterprise Agreement. You pay for how many Windows machines you are running, whatever version. You do not need to give them more money to upgrade. And as a Windows admin, I concur with the article that Windows 10 is easier to manage, but not nearly as dramatically as it claims.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  4. Bad statistics are bad... by cb88 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "interviewed four Microsoft customers" if that is 4 people .... that is statistically invalid especially if you are going to extrapolate to 24k users.

    If that is 4 bussinesses (which tend to use the same hardware across everyone).. it is still invalid as that only means that it works for a certain small subset of hardware.

    In short, the intentionally, skewed the data using known happy customers.

    1. Re:Bad statistics are bad... by james_gnz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "interviewed four Microsoft customers" if that is 4 people .... that is statistically invalid especially if you are going to extrapolate to 24k users. If that is 4 bussinesses (which tend to use the same hardware across everyone).. it is still invalid as that only means that it works for a certain small subset of hardware. In short, the intentionally, skewed the data using known happy customers.

      They don't have to pick known happy customers, or in any way rig the study. All they have to do is commission 10 (completely independent) small studies, with contracts giving them sole right of publication, then publish only the most favourable one.

  5. Bet they're not upgrading directly from Windows 7 by haruchai · · Score: 3, Funny

    because the UI is so different, a lot of users won't know what to do with considerable help.
    A lot of people aren't familiar with Win 8 or newer unless they bought brand new computers. Most of the people I know stuck with Windows 7, some switched to Mac or iOS & Android tablets

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  6. Windows 10? Sure it save money! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    On my computer Windows 10 cost my company $2,307. This is because it upgraded my Windows 7 computer without authorisation and fucked it up in the process, making anything dependant on mmc.exe unusable (because the upgrade fucked up the Software Catalog and wouldn't recognize Microsoft's own signature on mmc.exe). It cost my company the equivalent of $2,307 in wages and lost productivity to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch and reinstall all of the development tools that were previously running quite happily under Windows 7.

    I would have much preferred Windows 7 to be reinstalled, but the company is "moving forward" with Windows 10.

    1. Re:Windows 10? Sure it save money! by n329619 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It could have costed you $897 more. But with Microsoft saving tactics, you save 28% off from the initial $3204!

  7. I'm calling bullshit by Indy1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We've invested so much staff time into figuring out how to neuter Win 10's bullshit "features" like Telemetry, crappy interface, beefed up UAC (that breaks plenty of applications that we use), broken profile management, and inflexible Windows update....

    Only reason we're even touching Win 10 is that 7 doesn't work well on a lot of newer laptops, and come 2020 M$ is dropping all support for 7.

    --
    Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
    1. Re:I'm calling bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      > 7 doesn't work well on a lot of newer laptops

      This. Several models of Dell laptops we buy won't run 7 because of driver issues. IIRC, the most common problem is a Broadcom network adapter. It sucks being forced to run something that is harder to support.

  8. I believe it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's saving me quite a lot of money, because I decided not to use it and move over to Debian/KDE instead.

    So yep, Win10 has been saving me money ever since it came out. I'm surprised other people are not seeing similar kinds of savings.

  9. Re:Here's an idea: Increase the H-1B cap by ITRambo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't be a fool. The talent pool in the US is very deep. Employers don't want great workers that can leave of their own free will. They want indentured servants that have no recourse but to stay in the job they're brought in to do using the H-1B visa. Again, it's not about finding homegrown talent. It's about legally oppressing the workers as much as possible.

  10. So, "20% improvement in management time" by dwywit · · Score: 3, Interesting

    with "more self-service functions".

    So the end-users take more of their time to do stuff traditionally done by IT staff.

    Microsoft giveth, and Microsoft taketh away.

    --
    They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
  11. $404 Not Found by tepples · · Score: 5, Funny

    Forrester said the per-worker savings over a three-year stretch would be $404

    says the exact opposite.

    Then I guess the savings are 404 Not Found.

  12. Re:I claim I'm the Queen of Sheba by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's right next to the crown jewels.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  13. Of course the cap was hit in 5 days by zerofoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Employers want to pay as little as possible for labor. H-1B allows companies to hire indentured servants at a 30% discount to market rates.

    Raise the H-1B minimum wage to $150k/year and I'll bet most H-1B visas go unused.

  14. CPU by sycodon · · Score: 4, Informative

    My tech called me into his office and showed me the performance tab of the task manager.

    He had nothing but a PDF open. when he scrolled the PDF, CPU usage went to 120% apparently because the graph went off the scale.

    He was unable to complete some assigned training because his Win 10 laptop was too slow.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re: CPU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      You missed that it's $404.... savings not found error.

  15. 33% savings from security? by dbIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

    33% savings from security?
    If that's the case think how much you could save by using software that is incompatible with the malware that infests the MS platform. There are many other choices now.

  16. Re:Bet they're not upgrading directly from Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    This doesn't work the same as it did in 7, it filters anything that isn't a installed app. Example items are things like HWMonitor, even the the .exe is on the desktop the windows 10 search from start will not find it. Basically any application that didn't go through a windows install process the start search filters out.

  17. unmentioned liabilities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Office 360 requires storage of company confidential content - truckloads of it - in the cloud. That is a liability. A huge liability.

    It entirely defeats the purpose of things like firewall, security policy, or retention policy.

    I expect some pretty large breaches, and pretty huge losses of IP in the form of industrial/trade secrets as well as classified, confidential, and proprietary content.

    And without good audits, neither microsoft, nor the victim/user will know they are gone until they pop up in the competitors (China's) products at commodity pricing and with worldwide distribution.

    How does that factor into the TCO?

    1. Re:unmentioned liabilities by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And without good audits, neither microsoft, nor the victim/user will know they are gone until they pop up in the competitors (China's) products...

      This is the damning part. Industrial espionage from China is something of a constant thing these days, but when you run your own servers (and haven't outsourced administration to incompetents), you can see the attempts happening and have at least some chance of detecting and stopping a breach.

      When the servers storing your company's most valuable data aren't even yours, you haven't the slightest idea what's happening to them. You may not even know where they are. And even while you may think you know, they may have rearranged things without telling you and you still don't know where they are. Repeat that process a few times and suddenly your entire business (in Ohio) grinds to a halt because of a typhoon in Malaysia. Surprise, Microsoft outsourced an entire datacenter.

      MBA's are goddamned stupid. IT is a core competency of every business now. You either do it yourself and do it well or you will be bitten on the ass, one way or another. Outsourcing IT is like outsourcing your filing system 50 years ago. Insanity.

  18. IBM Report?? by BeemanIT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wasn't there recently a report that went out about IBM switching to Apple due to the savings on support?

  19. "Using that pretend company" by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Using that pretend company"...

    Say no more. My pretend company installed Windows 10 and saved over 5 billion percent, and that was just during the first 2 hours.

    Sadly, my other pretend company installed Windows 10 and immediately had 4 data breaches, 12 suicides, and went out of business the next week. 67% of the workers also tested positive for chlamydia.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  20. Re:Bet they're not upgrading directly from Windows by RotateLeftByte · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The average JoePublic user won't know the name of the application executable.
    What if there are several versions (bad systems management) which one do they choose.
    IT is fine for geeks but for a non geek? forget it.

    The torrents of abuse I've had hurled at me from people who were forced by my old managment onto W10 was enough to make me throw in the towel and quit.
    Users don't like change. End Of.
    W10 forces a lot of change on the users.

    Don't even get me started on the forced updates bricking devices. Two days before I left the above job, an update bricked the CEO's PC.
    The rollout of W10 stopped there and then. No amount of cajoling would persuade me to stay on and roll everyone back to W7. I'm done with Windows for good.

    --
    I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.