Gartner’s analysts have surprised no one with the recommendation that enterprises forgo upgrading to Windows 8.1 and instead migrate directly to Windows 10.

Steve Kleynhans, a Gartner analyst, told Computerworld that Windows 8.1 will likely go the same way as Windows Vista, with industry support dying off at a rapid rate. As such, even those companies that have already begun their migrations to Windows 8.1 are being urged to reconsider, and to adopt Windows 10 as soon as possible.

“We’ve been waiting for the right moment to recommend this, to put a fork in [Windows 8.1],” Kleynhans told Computerworld.

Although the need to upgrade from Windows 7 is not that pressing – Microsoft’s end of support date is January 14, 2020 – enterprises will probably want to avoid the scramble that occurred when Microsoft stopped providing support for Windows XP. The only real replacement is Windows 10, Kleynhans argued in a report.

According to him, Windows 10 is far superior to 8.1 in key areas like security, management and user experience. Its app store is also much more business-friendly, the analyst said.

The majority of enterprises today are running Windows 7 and will probably go directly to Windows 10 anyway, what with Redmond giving it away for free. However, those who are currently deploying (or have even finished deploying) Windows 8.1 should rethink what they’re doing, the analyst argued, and delay their projects a few months until the new OS is launched this summer.

Gartner predicts that most enterprises will be forced to begin adopting Windows 10 as early as next year, mostly due to pressure from third-party software makers. Those companies will quickly shift from supporting Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, Kleynhans said, which means their customers will have to do likewise.

This isn’t the first time Gartner has effectively written off an entire edition of Windows. It did the same thing to Windows Vista in 2009, when that OS was just three years old. Vista was roundly criticized for its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, and other faults, forcing Microsoft to quickly address them in Windows 7. As such, Gartner told enterprises to ditch Vista and move directly to Windows 7.

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