Is skipping Vista a good idea? It's a question we've examined many times before, and as the business end of a Magic 8-Ball might say, all signs point to no.

Of course, sometimes the signs can be confusing, as with this recent story at ChannelWeb: Gartner: XP To Windows Leap Won't Be Easy.

From the headline, you'd think the story might involve further discussion of the report that Microsoft won't offer a direct upgrade path from XP to Windows 7. That in itself should encourage businesses to adopt Vista sooner rather than later, as it will greatly simplify the eventual move to Windows 7 while affording the current benefits of Vista.

However, the story makes no mention of that fairly sizable obstacle. Instead, it seems to focus on timetables:

Gartner expects Microsoft to release Windows 7 to manufacturing by September in order to give OEMs time to install it on new PCs in time for the holiday season. But most organizations will need between 12 and 18 months after Windows 7 ships to conduct application testing and other migration tasks, according to Gartner, which says they shouldn't expect to deploy Windows 7 in widespread fashion before the first half of 2011.

Um, okay. And what to do in the meantime? The article doesn't say, and that's where the confusion sets in. It "won't be easy" to migrate from XP to Windows 7, and it'll be years before that's even an option for most organizations. But, "unlike Microsoft, which has been urging customers to migrate to Vista first before Windows 7, Gartner isn't beating the Vista drum."

Oh, Gartner, you crazy, conflicted bunch of analysts. We went ahead and perused the actual report, and concluded that these are the key takeaways:

• Applications that do not run on Windows Vista likely will not run on Windows 7. Translation: If you're concerned about application compatibility now, Windows 7 isn't the remedy you think it is.
• Skipping a release (such as Windows Vista) means that organizations will not be able to move to the next release (Windows 7) leisurely, via PC attrition. Translation: Don't skip Vista.

After you've digested all this, check our recent post, The Risks of Skipping Vista: A Recap. It's chock full of information that actually makes sense--unlike this ChannelWeb story.