Monday 3 July 2017

Reasons Behind Upgrading To Windows 10

Windows 7 was a great operating system till it was alive. However, like every other good thing, it also came to an end. The operating system was launched on October 22, 2009, under the codename Vienna and the official support ended on January 13, 2015. If you are still using it, for more than 2 years, your computer is inviting cyber attacks.

Windows 7 was replaced by Windows 10, the latest offering from Microsoft. The OS was launched on July 29, 2015 and Microsoft is committed to provide update till October 14, 2025, for the extended edition. All this taken into consideration, it is a good time to the long delayed Windows 7 to 10 migration.

Stopping the cyber attacks is not the only reason for this upgrade but this is the biggest reason. You might have heard about the global crisis from Wannacry, the virus which attacked the older operating systems like Windows 7 and XP. Even if that attack missed your computer, there is no knowing when the next attack would be and if you can again dodge it. If you cannot, then, you will end up spending thousands of dollars to get your computer working again.

The other reasons behind the upgrade would be the additional features of Windows 10. This operating system the fastest, safest and the most beautiful operating system from Microsoft, till now. It has modern browsers like Edge and it can intuitively understand many user actions as well.

Challenges of Migrating From Windows 7

Windows 7 has officially died. Except for the long term support candidate which has a couple of years left, all the other versions of Windows 7 don't receive any updates. This means, the operating system is the favourite staple for the hackers now because they are now free to find security holes and exploit those because Microsoft wouldn't repair those. You might have heard about the latest Wannacry ransomware which utilised the drawbacks of Windows 7 and held millions of computer users for ransom.

If you have not updated to the modern Windows 10 yet, you must do it now. Windows 10 is the safest, fastest and most beautiful operating system from Microsoft and more importantly, it is actively supported by Microsoft. This means, even if there are security holes in this OS, Microsoft would quickly plug it.

However, upgrading the OS for the whole organisation is certainly different from upgrading the personal computer. Firstly, the computers might not be at one place. Secondly, they might have internal applications which need to be tested before the upgrade because breaking these applications is fatal for the business. Thirdly, taking back up of all the files, folders, database and applications is different because it’s not possible to sit at every computer exclusively. That's why one should approach the professional agencies who offer Windows 7 migration service. They take care of all these issues mentioned here and also go about their job swiftly and efficiently.

Legacy Applications Upgrade: A Consideration

Legacy applications are those which are outdated computer applications. Simply put, these applications were built for older computing environments and while they might still be functional, they don't allow the companies to exploit the advancements of the computing industry. These legacy applications should be upgraded so that more functionalities can be added to them. Let's take a deeper look.

Suppose the application was build when 16 bit computers were in use. So the application carries 16 bit architecture. However, at present, we have 32 bit and 64 bit architectures. It is known that the architecture of the computing environment, or the operating system, must match the applications to enable the application to run inside it. So, basically, a 16 bit application can't be run when using a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system.

Now, there are two options left for the company. Firstly, it can continue to use the 16 bit operating system so that the application can run. Secondly, it can upgrade the application into a modern architecture so that the organisation can benefit from using modern and more advanced operating systems.

Now the second option has some great benefits. Firstly, the company can use the modern OS and other applications to be more productive. Secondly, as the modern operating systems receive security feedback and updates, the organisation is safer as well. Finally, the transformation doesn't lead to loss of data but newer functionalities can be added to the existing legacy application during the upgrade process.

A Brief History of Computer Architectures

Modern computers started their journey from 8 bit processors. You might still remember the great 8085 microprocessor, which was completely programmable and it was such a craze among scientists. Then came the 16 bit applications. Those were the days of console gaming. While everything else were 16 bit as well, we remember 16 applications mostly for the console games and the mass use of personal computers in large organisations. As there were no standardisation, even Microsoft Windows were yet to get a proper foothold in the market, organisations developed their own 16 bit applications, or software, to use internally.

Presently, we have 32 bit and 64 bit architectures with 32 bit architecture slowly getting backdated. We can see how Microsoft encourages using the 64 bit version of their operating systems. 128 bit and 256 bit are not too much far behind because we can already see 1278 bit architecture being used in certain computing environments and 256 bit encryption is the standard for digital security. Soon, the complete planet will move to these architectures.

Anyway, remember the 16 bit applications the large companies build for their internal use? These applications can't work in the modern environment. So the companies are left with two choices, either stick with a completely outdated 16 bit computing system or upgrade the 16-bit application to a modern architecture. The first method makes the company vulnerable to cyber attacks and it also doesn't allow them to exploit the advances the computer industry made in the last decade. Thus, upgrading the application is the wise choice.

Wednesday 7 June 2017

Learn More About Application Management

Application management is not managing the job applications you receive for the vacancies in your company. Application management is organising business IT activities and it has a broader concept.

By definition, application management is the process of managing the operation, maintenance, upgrading, troubleshooting or removing an application during its lifespan. In a broader sense, it also includes techniques and procedures to adopt for the optimum performance of the application, best practices, effic8iency increment of the application for the enterprise resource use and the back-end IT infrastructure.

Application management is an enterprise wide policy for complete IT governance approach so that the optimal application performance can be obtained. This policy includes inputs from business and IT perspectives and serves different objectives.

The most important aspects of Application management are:

• Application owners: The management of the company or the key decision makers who will judge the AM from revenue, profit and control perspectives.
• Application managers: Key decision makers in IT department who are responsible for application deployment, maintenance and development.
• Application users: these are mostly the company employees and the security, privacy, upgrade and troubleshoot are some of the issues regarding this group.

Application management also has some divisions like Application Portfolio Management (APM), Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Application Performance Management (APM).

You Must Upgrade Your 16 Bit Applications

If you come to know that your company has such a vulnerability which can not only cripple but can kill your business, you will probably become serious. However, you will be even more surprised to know that this particular vulnerability is currently perceived as a strength by your company. The sad truth is that most of the companies rely on IT systems which might soon become obsolete, called legacy system in IT terms.

A legacy application is a type of software or application which serves a purpose but is completely backdated or obsolete. 16 bit applications, for example, are legacy applications because no computer uses 16 bit architecture anymore. These applications were developed by the companies when 16 bit architecture used to be the standard. With time, the architecture became more advanced, 32 bit, 64 bit and even 128 bit. The companies failed to upgrade the applications for two reasons, firstly they didn't want to disrupt the existing system which might have affected their revenue flow and secondly because they felt the application is serving the purpose and don't mend something which isn't broken.

Now we are in the era where mobile and cloud computing is the standard and thus, these 16 bit applications should really be upgraded to something modern. In fact, the support and the maintenance cost of these applications would only increase with time. You need to spend on keeping them compatible with modern computers and operating environment as well.

Keep These In Mind While Remotely Deploying Windows 10

Remote deployment of Windows 10 is a great example of proper SCCM implementation, but you need to keep the following in mind.

• Standardisation: Don't create too many different configurations. It will save a lot of effort during the roll-out. It will also reduce the burden of support in the future. You should have a few sets of applications and configurations.

• Group Policy: If something can be configured using group policy, you should certainly use that. It is easily managed and it can be easily changed in the future.

• Hardware: All the systems should be modern and should have at least 2GB of RAM. You should have standard hardware and not too many different models to handle. Hardware from major vendors is the key here as they have better support.

• Base Image: The base image should be created using the most basic computer. This image should have the pure OS. Some patches and some customisations can be done on the OS. VMWare can also be used to create a virtual PC for this purpose. ]

• User State Migration: USMT (User State Migration Tool) is a great choice for transferring user data and setting into the new OS but it has a bug as well. This bug can be nasty because it requires on fix from the server side and another fix from the user side. Moreover, USMT is configured using XML files which needs certain level of expertise. If you can avoid using USMT, do that.