It's not too wrong to say that Windows 11's adoption has not been as great as Microsoft had perhaps hoped for initially. Just a month after the release of the OS, the company began pushing the update out to more systems citing "positive" feedback. And much more recently, in February this year, Microsoft published an advert that explained why users still on Windows 10 should upgrade to 11. The video was titled "Start Fresh Without Starting Over with Windows 11" communicating the idea that the upgrade process is seamless.
Speaking of seamless upgrades, Microsoft this week published a new blog post on its official Tech Community website busting all the "myths and misconceptions" surrounding Windows 11 upgrades and moving to cloud-based Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). The blog post is aimed at IT and system admins.
A part of that article suggests how Windows 11 fundamentally is not much different than 10:
The fact is that Windows 10 to Windows 11 is, by design, the same as a Windows 10 feature update. If you’re like most organizations, feature updates aren’t major projects. Windows 11 is built on Windows 10, even carrying a Windows 10 version number for the highest compatibility. So, you can take a more business-as-usual approach to this upgrade.
Windows 11 is built on the same foundation as Windows 10. It’s an evolution that improves upon Windows 10 strengths and addresses its limitations.
And Microsoft has good reason for that too. On the verge of the Windows 11 launch, a large-scale survey showed how most enterprise systems just weren't ready for the new OS due to the harder system requirements, and the situation was not ideal even a year later in 2022.
Harjit Dhaliwal, a Senior Product Marketing Manager of Windows Commercial at Microsoft, who penned the article, says:
Let’s discuss the myths around the move to cloud-native management, with Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Entra ID, and Windows 11. In this post, we will address some common questions and misconceptions by sharing insights and perspectives gathered from the conversations we’ve had with organizations of all sizes from around the globe this past year.
We understand that as an IT pro a big part of your role is to help manage change, and to mitigate risks when implementing those changes. So, when considering a joint move to cloud-native management and keeping up to date with Windows 11, why does the task seem so daunting?
These "misconceptions" have been looked at under several points. Microsoft has dissected each one of them trying to explain to administrators why they need not be concerned about such issues or worries. They are:
Misconception #1: To deploy Windows 11, you must also go full cloud native.
Misconception #2: That name change means a bigger change.
Misconception #3: Application compatibility is a risk when upgrading to Windows 11.
Misconception #4: The Windows 11 experience change means business productivity will be adversely impacted.
Misconception #5: Variation in device configuration increases total cost of ownership.
Finally, the meat of the blog post has been summed up by Dhaliwal as follows:
While there are costs and risks associated with either adopting or resisting change, the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11 can be taken with confidence and considered business-as-usual. Indeed, many organizations have already built the muscle to successfully deploy the fourteen Windows 10 semi-annual feature updates to date, and Windows 11 simply represents their next rollout.
The management tools, processes, and risk mitigations you have in place will continue to work for your Windows 11 deployment as they are today. Your organization should not be afraid of moving to Windows 11.
Microsoft had once described how its internal rollout process for Windows 11 was its smoothest ever and the company probably wants admins to feel the same way about their own organizations too. Perhaps coincidentally, Microsoft recently announced it will stop force-installing Windows feature updates on managed PCs.
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