Businesses need to consider how long it will take for other vendors' security products to support Windows 8, a factor in drawing up a timeline for adopting the new operating system. "Support will certainly come," the Gartner report says, "but may not be there until after your security and tool vendors supply updates, and could require months to be tested and implemented."

Tim Greene covers Microsoft for Network World and writes the Mostly Microsoft blog. Reach him at tgreene@nww.com and follow him on Twitter @Tim_Greene.

in Network World's Software section.