Support for Windows 7

[Bill CARTER]

When will the Cisco Unified Communications user applications support Windows 7? How about Windows 7 64-bit?

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/110909-windows-7-not-supported-by-cisco-uc-reese.html?hpg1=bn

[skilambi]

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6789/ps7046/ps7282/product_bulletin_c25-563280_ps427_Products_Bulletin.html

[Bill CARTER]

I have read that document. Doesn't sound like a good answer from Cisco.

[skilambi]

Check out the UCBT slides that have been uploaded. It has information more detailed on CUPC, CUCI-MOC support for Windows 7 and so on. CAD is slated 1H of 2010. Here are some notes from Tom Sullivan, CAD PM. Of course these dates are always subject to change

CAD for UCCE 8.0  - will support Windows 7 when UCCE 8.0 is released next year.

CAD for UCCE 7.5 – discussions are ongoing with DE to determine an appropriate release vehicle before the middle of 2010. CAD for UCCX 8.0 – will support Windows 7 when UCCX 8.0 is released next year.

CAD for UCCX 7.0 – discussions are ongoing with DE to determine an appropriate release vehicle before the middle of 2010.

[dadunlap]

Windows 7 is now generally available and many businesses are evaluating their PC refresh strategies to take advantage of this evolutionary operating system update.  Less than 3 yrs after the release of Windows Vista, Windows XP continues to dominate 86% of all the enterprise PCs powered by Windows*. According to Gartner** and Forrester Research*** businesses are expected to start enterprise wide Windows 7 deployments in late 2010 and early 2011.

Cisco customers and partners should remain confident that Cisco is committed to providing Windows 7 support for the Cisco Unified Communications desktop applications.  Similar to many of our industry peers, the timing and level of support for Windows 7 machines is expected to vary by individual application.  Microsoft’s Windows 7 Compatibility Center and many individual vendor Web sites have information about products supporting Windows 7.

For many Cisco Unified Communications desktop applications, Cisco is introducing Windows 7 support with Cisco Unified Communications System Release 8.0 targeted for general availability in H1CY2010. For the remaining applications our development teams are evaluating product development cycles to phase in Windows 7 support.  The Cisco Unified Communications Support for Windows 7 Bulletin posted on Cisco.com provides our customers and partners visibility into how Windows 7 support is being phased in for various Cisco Unified Communications desktop applications.  As we commit Windows 7 support for additional Cisco Unified Communications applications, we will continue to update this product bulletin.

Darin Dunlap

Product Manager

Unified Communications Business Unit

* Plan Now for Licensing Windows 7, Forrester Research (July 2009)
** Forecast Analysis: PCs, Worldwide and North America Q309 Update, Gartner Research (Oct 2009), ID Number G00171564
*** Corporate Desktop Operating System Trends, Q3 2008 to Q2 2009, Forrester Research (July 2009)

[Bill CARTER]

Darin,

Thank you for the response.

[tmaurello]

Darin,

Thank you for the write up.  Can you clarify if the business units are considering adding Windows 7 support to existing applications?  There will be many clients running UC6/7 that are planning (or already) rolling out Windows 7 as standard desktop/laptop OS with no immediate plans to upgrade to UC8 or 8.5.

Key applications would be:

- IP Communicator/CUPC

- Unity VMO Plugin for Outlook

- MeetingPlace Plugin for Outlook

- Client-Agent Desktop

2nd part of the question - how about plans for Office 2010 support since that will be right around the corner?

Thanks,

- Tony

[dadunlap]

Hi Tony ... I recommend periodically looking for updates to the Windows 7 bulletin referenced earlier in this thread.  You'll see that many products are being investigated in terms of what's needed to make them supported on Windows 7, e.g. Cisco IP Communicator, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook, Cisco Unity & Cisco Unity Connection ViewMail for Outlook.  Where a product simply needs testing to validate 100% operation on Windows 7, an existing version may be supported, but in many cases product changes are needed as a result of Windows 7 evolution, hence the need for Cisco to release a new version (sometimes minor, sometimes major depending on the complexity).

Regarding Office 2010, Cisco customers and partners should remain confident that Cisco is committed to providing Office 2010 support for relevant Cisco Unified Communications desktop applications.  Many product teams are evaluating Office 2010 in its technical preview form with the aim of adding support for the generally available version in the future.  When this might occur depends on when Microsoft makes Office 2010 generally available relative to our various product release cycles.

Regards,

Darin

[dadunlap]

Regarding 32-bit vs 64-bit Windows 7 support ...

Across the software industry, the migration of software applications from 32-bit to 64-bit will be on going as broad 64-bit computer, driver and operating system support is a recent industry transition. Based on our evaluation of 32-bit Cisco Unified Communications desktop applications, we have not found significant loss in functionality when running these applications in 64-bit Windows machines running in 32-bit emulation mode (WoW64, enabled in Windows by default). To avoid delays in our much-anticipated Cisco Unified Communications System Release 8.0, we are maintaining our current release schedules and plan over time to phase in Windows 7 support, as well as targeted native 64-bit support providing significant value.  As additional information becomes available about specific products, we will continue to update the Cisco Unified Communications Support for Windows 7 Bulletin posted on Cisco.com.  Note that an update is planned for this bulletin in the coming weeks.

Regards,

Darin

[techdaddy14648]

Hi Darin -

Are you able to shed any further light nearly 3 months later on the support of plugins with Office 2010?

Specifically my customers are asking about support for the MeetingPlace for Outlook Plugin with Office 2010.

Thanks,

Josh

[jbburks]

Still no useful response from Cisco, other than "We are committed to supporting Windows 7"?

Having a version 8 in 2HCY10 that works is no real solution.

Test versions of Windows 7 have been out for over a year. The final release code has been available to major partners since June 2009. Is Cisco a major partner of Microsoft's?

[DOUG DAVIDSON]

I am also curious and would like to get a response from Cisco as to why it is taking so long to get Windows 7 support. We have stayed with Windows XP rather than deploying Vista and it is getting harder and harder to get XP, so Windows 7 is starting to be deployed and having to wait another 3-6 months for Cisco to support is going to cause numerous problems.

Thanks,

Doug

[jbburks]

Not only to wait for support, but potentially to have to upgrade to UC / UCCX 8.5. That will take a lot of time and effort to get to.

We will be rolling out new PCs next month (after four years) with Windows 7. I'm going to have to tell our call center agents that they will not get new PCs because we chose Cisco UC. That message won't be well received.

[dadunlap]

The Cisco Unified Communications Support for Windows 7 Bulletin posted on Cisco.com has been updated since my earlier posts in this thread.  Many of our UC products are planning Windows 7 support in the Q1 or Q2 CY10 timeframe, including some with 7.x versions.

It's important to note that Cisco UC product releases are often planned up to a year or more ahead of release, as a system with many inter-product dependencies that drive a certain level of priority.  While we monitor Microsoft's OS roadmap for alignment as we commit the content for each release, there are many other important capabilities for which our releases also get prioritized, and we balance the timing and content to try to reach an optimal outcome.  Another consideration is that the timing of Microsoft's releases can vary (sometimes earlier than expected, sometimes later), and Cisco's UC releases also see variation in the actual ship dates versus our initial planned release dates.

In a nutshell, because of the many factors that go into release planning and delivery, it's a complicated matter to reach the desired alignment in some cases.

We will continue to update the Windows 7 bulletin referenced above as updates become available.

Regarding the question of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace support of Outlook 2010 calendaring for meeting setup, we have found development work will be needed and are working on fitting it into our release plans.

Regards,

Darin

[jbburks]

> It's important to note that Cisco UC product releases are often planned up to a year or more ahead of release

Here's a link to an article published in January 2008 (two years ago) discussing the Windows 7 feature set. I highly recommend Paul Thurrott's site to keep abreast of what's coming in the Microsoft space. http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/win7_shipping.asp

>  there are many other important capabilities for which our releases also get prioritized

I understand very clearly the competing pressures on feature set, testing resources, etc. I'm trying to get Cisco to understand (mostly for future reference) that basic platform capability is a key feature users expect. If we can't use UCCX on current Microsoft platforms shortly after availability (say, six months) it's a big issue. All I've gotten so far from a lot of discussion is "we understand and are evaluating".

Having snazzy new features like handling IM's is all well and good, but if our phone agents have to live with old PCs for another year or two, until 8.5 is out and we have time to get that tested, integrated and upgraded, we won't be very happy with our choice of UCC-X.