Moreover, companies will begin to see compatibility issues with XP and third-party applications as the OS gets older, Brust added.

"The economy doesn’t just challenge customers; it also challenges software companies, who can only afford to support so many versions of an OS," he said.

Brust added that improved security features in Windows 7 and its superiority on 64-bit PCs are also reasons for companies to upgrade.

However, on the latter point, Cherry said that with the economic crisis, companies may not be purchasing expensive computers when they do loosen budgets to buy new machines, so the 64-bit argument for the OS -- one that Microsoft tried to make with Vista -- may not fly.

That's why Microsoft plans to make Windows 7 work well on older PCs and new low-cost PCs and netbooks. This, Brust said, will make Windows 7 "more attractive as an upgrade for the entire installed base of PCs inside an organization" than was Vista, with its complex hardware requirements.