Forrester also has found in its surveys that CIOs are moving their enterprises at a very quick and steady pace to Windows 7 and to Office 2010, according to Schadler. Almost 200 million copies of Office 2010 have been sold to date, according to Microsoft.

In fact, an argument can be made that Microsoft may be pushing out Windows 8 and Office 15 too close to their predecessors, and as such may find it is competing against itself, Osterman said.

"Unless there's something really compelling in Windows 8, I don't see the upgrade push," Osterman said. "And with Office 15, Microsoft is going to be hard-pressed to make the case for it, only because Office 2010 is so good. Microsoft has a very nice set of products on the desktop right now."

Office

Office 15 is in limited-access, early testing. A broader beta period is slated for the summer. Very little is known about technical details and improvements in the Office 15 applications at this point. What Microsoft is saying unequivocally is that Office 15 will be "the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division." The revamped applications, which will also include Project and Visio, will all get new "touch-friendly" UIs on tablets and similar devices.