"What I see that saying is that Microsoft did a great job with this thing," said Hagglund, "because the concerns about Windows 7 that Microsoft had the most control over, like stability and performance, are the ones where fewer people are worried."

Hagglund admitted to only one survey result that took her aback. "I was shocked by how few said they weren't waiting for SP1," she said. Forty-six percent of those polled said they wouldn't wait for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to deploy the operating system. "That may not sound like a lot, but for IT, it's a huge number," Hagglund added, referring to the tradition among businesses to wait for an operating system's first service pack before migrating.

Two weeks ago, when a usually-accurate site reported that Microsoft had ditched plans to , Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, argued that if there was a time to ignore the SP1 tradition, this was it. "This time, waiting for SP1 may be doing yourself a disservice," Cherry said at the time.

Dimensional's survey was conducted for Kace, a systems management appliance company that was acquired by computer maker last month. Hagglund's report can be obtained at (registration required).

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .