The big news late last week: Microsoft (by way of a company exec) suggested that some companies would be better off deploying Windows 7 instead of Vista.

Unsurprisingly, the blogosphere went wild, proclaiming that Microsoft had "finally admitted Vista's failure," that Vista adoption would be a tragic mistake for anyone, and on and on.

Of course, that wasn't the real message at all. Here, for the record, is the Microsoft exec's actual quote:

"If you're just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7] Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward," Bill Veghte, said Microsoft's senior vice president for Windows business.

In other words, if your enterprise delayed Vista deployment for one reason or another is just now underway, it might make more sense to run your tests on Windows 7 instead.

Okay, but where does that leave companies already in the midst of Vista deployemnt? Gartner analyst Michael Silver said it depends on how far along they are:

"If they started deployment, and are deploying Vista only on new machines as they buy them, then I'd continue. But if they aren't quite there yet, then we recommend switching to Windows 7." Gartner's rule of thumb, Silver continued, is that if dumping Vista for Windows 7 will delay deployment plans by six months or less, then Windows 7 is the right move. "And for anyone looking to skip some version of Windows, Vista is the better one to skip," said Silver.

Obviously there's some logic behind all this. After all, Windows 7 has Windows Vista at its core, so it brings with it all the same security, productivity, and migration benefits--plus an interesting roster of new features.

But there's one issue that remains, and we're surprised nobody mentioned it: There's no direct upgrade path from Windows 2000/XP to Windows 7! (Actually, somebody did mention it--Gartner--back in March.) Skipping Vista means a helluva lot more work for IT departments.

Consequently, we have to disagree with both Microsoft and Gartner. If you're already underway with Vista, why would you want to cut bait and go back to square one? By all means, put Windows 7 under the microscope--all the while remembering that Vista is the logical bridge to Windows 7.

Follow Simplify PC Solutions on Twitter!