Windows Vista failed to gain traction with business users, and its successor will not be spared a similar fate, according to a survey put together by ScriptLogic. Even with corporations having skipped Vista altogether, plans to crowd to the next iteration of Windows in order to migrate their IT infrastructure are not a priority. Out of the 1,100 IT administrators that responded to a survey from ScriptLogic, approximately 60% revealed that they were saying a firm 'no' to Windows 7 upgrades. At the same time, the remaining respondents pointed out that they were indeed gearing up to embrace Windows 7 in the next year and a half.

While 59.3% of IT administrators indicated that their company had no plans to move to Windows 7, almost half were looking to jump to the next version of the Windows client by the end of next year. 34% of respondents stated that Windows 7 deployments would likely be wrapped up by the end of 2010. Only 5.4% of IT administrators will rush to adopt Windows 7, planning to deploy the operating system within months of its finalization, by the end of 2009. Just 1.4% have already upgraded to Windows 7.

When asked what was the biggest barrier standing in the way of Windows 7 uptake, 42.7% of IT administrators stated that it was limited time and resources. No less than 39.1% continue to be worried about application compatibility problems, even though Microsoft went to great lengths to make Windows 7 play nice with Vista applications, and delivering a copy of Windows XP for free via Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.

8.4% revealed that OS Deployment / Migration was the largest impediment to adoption, although the Redmond company is offering solution accelerators specifically designed to streamline deployment, including Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (MDT), Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0 (MAP), and Infrastructure Planning and Design guides (IPD). Still, respondents are more confident in relation to the way Windows 7 will work with hardware, only 7.5% expressing concerns in this regard.