This is a case where history is coming back to bite Microsoft. In a recent survey done by ScriptLogic, 60 percent of respondents say they will skip Microsoft’s latest operating system when it’s released later this year. That’s 60 percent that have no plans to deploy the OS at all. A further 34 percent said they will deploy it by the end of 2010 and a miniscule 5.4 percent said they would deploy it by the end of 2009.

Those are pretty dismal numbers for a company that is banking on its new operating system to pull it out of the doldrums of Vista.

The legacy of Windows Vista is really hurting Microsoft at this point. Many companies viewed that OS as unstable, leaving some of its biggest corporate clients staying with Windows XP, including Intel.

One of the biggest concerns that companies have with moving to Windows 7 was a worry about compatibility with their existing hardware and software. The last thing these people need is to upgrade their operating systems only to find out that many of the apps they rely on don’t work properly.

Microsoft made its bed when they released Vista, a half-hearted release at best. Now they are suffering the consequences when some of their most reliable customers are not going upgrade.

Of course, Microsoft also botched the pricing for Windows 7 too, so it doesn’t look like they are going to have a successful launch. Consumers will get the OS whenever they buy a new computer, so they can count those, but that’s not the same as having corporations around the world upgrading.