Bypass Vista and Wait for Windows 7?

Rumors are all of the Internet that Microsoft has placed its next operating system, Windows 7, on a fast-track for release during the second half of next year (2009).  This may be based on the perception that Vista is, if not a failure, at least not a huge improvement over XP.  There seems to be a consensus that it runs perhaps 10% slower than XP on the same hardware, even with the advanced graphical features disabled.  That could change when Vista's Service Pack 1 is released in the very near future.

There is also evidence, at least based on Dell's production, that small business customers continue to choose XP over Vista by a better than 2 to 1 margin.  My own new notebook PC came with XP Pro, not Vista, so I clearly fall into that small-business majority.  However, the vast majority of consumer-grade machines (such as my son's new desktop PC) are being purchased with Vista.  Microsoft is allowing computer manufacturers to continue offering XP as an option on new computers through June 30, 2008.

If Microsoft's next operating system is less than two years away, and with no compelling reason for small business users such as law firms to leave XP, is Vista merely a stop-gap OS like the much-maligned Windows ME?