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A lot may be riding on the release of Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 7, which is due in October, not the least of which is an expected rush of advertising to support everything from the software itself, to the computers it will run on to the rival computers it will not run on.

This surge of business is seen coming just as the holiday shopping session gets under way and could help spark the economic turnaround that some suggest will come later this year.

Or maybe not.

According to a survey by ScriptLogic, six in 10 companies plan to skip buying Windows 7. Some will pass on the added cost of the upgrade, while others are concerned about compatibility with existing applications.

Perhaps consumers will be less squemish about Windows 7 than businesses. Then again, neither were exactly thrilled about Microsoft’s last upgrade — Windows Vista….

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Thinking of going straight from your trusted old Windows XP to Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system, bypassing the poorly received Vista?

Not so fast, Microsoft warned its corporate customers in a blog today.

“We know some of our customers are considering waiting for Windows 7 instead of deploying Windows Vista today,” says Windows senior product director Gavriella Schuster in the blog. “We want these customers to understand the following considerations, so they are not surprised later on.”

Leapfrogging Vista could mean falling into a hole where applications are no longer supported on XP but not yet supported on Windows 7, she warns.  

Microsoft finally lifted the curtain on Windows 7 to an enthusiastic audience of developers at the company’s Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.

Here are some details that didn’t make it into our story.

Touch – It’s probably the most eye-catching new feature. You can use your finger to click on different programs, scroll through documents, flick to and from various Web pages and sift through photos. It’s also multi-touch — so feel free to use both hands. HomeGroup – Who likes setting up home networks? This feature finds and connects all Windows 7 computers on your home network. If you have one computer that holds all your music but want to play songs on a separate PC, HomeGroup lets you play music on any computer in your network regardless of whether the music is actually on that machine’s hard drive. It also lets all the computers on the network easily share printers without having to install drivers on each machine. New Taskbar – Any open window on the taskbar presents a quick snapshot of what is open. If you hover over those snapshots, it will provide a full screen preview. Also, anything on the taskbar can be moved and “pinned” to specific locations.

(Photo: Reuters/Fred Prouser)