The first company to migrate to Microsoft Windows 10 is … – ZDNet France

Not surprisingly, Microsoft has learned a thing or two about deploying new versions of Windows within the company over the years.

And with Windows 10, the department IT publisher wanted to go fast, as evidenced by the case study technique written by the firm itself. Through an update internally, the ISD has deployed Windows 10 with 85% of employees of the multinational in the four weeks following the release of the system. In 10 weeks, they are 95% of users that were migrated.

” The deployment of Windows 10 was the fastest deployment a wide operating system of a company that Microsoft IT has ever seen. Using OSD for the internal deployment of the update was the key that allowed this deployment successful “boasts the Redmond company.

(OSD or Operating System Deployment is a feature of System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2 SP1).

These elements are excerpts from an internal experience feedback and a document validated by Microsoft. Needless therefore of exploring for valuable information including pitfalls and things that went wrong.

However, this testimony contains some “lessons learned” and best practices that could interest large or even smaller companies planning to deploy Windows 10 in the future.

By opting for an update, Microsoft has avoided having to manage images of the OS, as the editor had done during the transition to Windows 7. “Microsoft users actually had nothing to do. Click, click, install, and they were ready for operation” ensures the editor, applications, data and settings being supported during migration.

Because Microsoft has planned the mandatory updates during times when most computers are connected to the corporate network (such as on Tuesday during the lunch break) the effects on assistance (help desk) were lower, reducing support costs by about 50%. But again, this is the Redmond company claiming the very good balance.

As the testers of Windows program Insider know, Microsoft is experimenting versions (“builds”) Windows 10 internally in the development / deployment process Windows 10. To test these very early versions, Microsoft IT department has created a community made up of early adopters (“early adopters”).

Within the firm, a selected number of employees are grouped within the “Canary Ring”. They receive builds on a daily basis. The versions approved by the Canary Ring are then tested by the circle Operating System Group and finally the rest of the employees of the publisher of Microsoft ring. Before the launch of Windows 10 in July, 38,000 users or 40% of Microsoft employees, were well under Windows 10.

The publisher also specifies that most Microsoft computer Park before turning on Windows 8.1. Following a “recent acquisition” by Microsoft, hundreds of business applications were developed to run under Windows 7 and as such compatible with PC park combining Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Such application compatibility level is not certainly not the norm in other companies for which a migration to Windows 10 is therefore certainly prove more complex than in the scenario reported by the publisher.