Although the beta of Windows 7 released in January is getting good reviews, that may not be enough to inspire businesses to upgrade, given their tight IT budgets and the fact that many are cutting costs in any way they can.

"I think the down economy will hinder just about everything," said David Smith, a vice president and fellow at research company Gartner.

Windows 7 is expected to be available before the end of the year, or at the very latest, early next year. Unless there is a dramatic economic rebound, all signs point to the economy still squeezing IT budgets at that time.

Tens of thousands of jobs have been cut in the last several months as cost-cutting measures at companies across all business sectors. Not only do those job cuts show that overall budgets are tight, they also mean that companies will probably have a surplus of client PCs that they can reassign to other workers, said Michael Cherry, an analyst with research firm Directions on Microsoft, in Kirkland, Washington.

"If they're laying off employees, they have more than they need, so they may reallocate those to other employees," he said.