Six out of 10 firms to shun Windows 7

Windows 7 is due for official release later this year

Nearly two-thirds of companies are likely to skip Microsoft's next operating system, according to new research by desktop and server management firm Scriptlogic.

The firm polled over 20,000 IT administrators and received responses from around 1,000 companies about the new Windows 7 set for release this year, and found that 60 per cent have no intention of upgrading.

Time and resources was the biggest barrier for respondents, followed closely by application compatibility and deployment/migration concerns.

Many firms are also skipping upgrades or delaying purchases in order to save money. Around a third of respondents said that they cut costs by doing this, while around 29 per cent said that investing in software to introduce efficiencies is the best way to save money.

Just 5.4 per cent of respondents said that they will have the time and resources to install Windows 7 before the end of this year, while a third said that they would roll out the new operating system by the end of 2010.