In a report released last week titled 'Building The Business Case For Windows Vista,' Forrester downplayed the likelihood that Microsoft, which plans to halt direct OEM sales of XP on June 30, will "give in to customer and partner requests again."

Forrester also highlighted a trend that solution providers have been observing for months: the surging use of the downgrade rights Microsoft offers with Vista Business and Vista Ultimate, which allow companies to keep using XP Professional, XP Professional x64 Edition, and XP Tablet PC Edition.

Kevin Klein, an account executive with Decisive Business Systems, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based solution provider, expects demand for XP downgrade rights to remain strong for the foreseeable future.

"Many our customers who purchase hardware have been finding it acceptable to purchase preloaded Vista as long as either the downgrade media is included, or can be obtained separately for no cost," Klein said.

Another Microsoft partner says people wouldn't have to resort to using downgrade rights if Microsoft hadn't tried to bite off more it could chew with regard to adding new functionality to Vista.

"I understand that Microsoft has put a lot of time and money into Vista, but the bottom line is my customers don't necessarily care about the new bells and whistles, they just want the OS to work," said the source, who requested anonymity.

"I hate 'adventures,' and I can't afford to donate my time supporting issues that should have been addressed well in advance of the release of Vista," the source added.