41 Percent Businesses Planning for Windows 7

Windows 7 to penetrate businesses quickly.

Many reports hitting the internet today say something to the effect that six out of 10 businesses are planning on skipping Windows 7, which paints somewhat of a bleak picture.

Taken in perspective, however, the fact that four out of 10 businesses are already planning upgrades to Windows 7 is a monumental win for Microsoft. First of all, it's important to note that a survey was asking IT departments regarding their upgrade plans for the release of Windows 7 to the end of 2010. So the real statistic is that 41 percent of businesses plan on upgrading to the new OS between September 1, 2009 (for businesses with volume licenses) and December 31, 2010.

Given that most businesses prefer to wait at least a year or for the first Service Pack before adopting a new OS, the early commitment to go to Windows 7 is something Microsoft should be very proud of.

Even ScriptLogic, the firm that did the survey, pointed out in its findings the following telling statistic, with regards: "The primary goal of this survey was to assess the impact of the weak economy on IT infrastructure projects and we found that, despite its impact on short-term plans, 41% of organizations plan a wholesale migration to Windows 7 by the end of 2010. This is actually a strong adoption rate when compared to the historical adoption rate of Windows XP in its first year which was cited as 12-14%."

Tip of the hat to Ed Bott and his ZDNet blog for his graph plotting the growth of Windows 7 compared to Windows XP.