Mainstream support for XP ends Tuesday, but, in news that bodes ill for Redmond and the broader PC industry, new data first obtained by InformationWeek indicates that only a small percentage of businesses plan to migrate to Windows 7 in its first year of availability.

Economic concerns and worries about compatibility -- the bugbear that doomed Vista in the corporate market -- will keep Windows 7 on the shelf for all but a handful of enterprises until at least 12 months after the OS becomes available later this year or early next, depending on Microsoft's release schedule.