"Because Windows 8 is a 'plumbing' release, it will not see the acceptance of Windows XP or Windows 7," says Kleynhans.

Nevertheless, enterprises using Windows XP need to do something. They are entering a danger zone as all support for the OS will end in April 2014. Moving to a new OS for a large organization takes up resources, money and time, and according to Gartner, XP users will run out of time if they don't act now.

Should they wait for Windows 8? No, says analyst Kleynhans. Windows 8 itself will take too long to mature once released, probably a year. It will take too much time to test and prepare for Windows 8 and wait for independent software vendors (ISVs) to make their software compatible with Windows 8.

"If you try to go from XP to Windows 8 you will run out of time," says Kleynhans.

The solution is to start upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as possible. If you are thinking of leapfrogging Windows 7 to Windows 8, here are five reasons why that's a bad idea, according to Gartner.