Photo courtesy of Microsoft Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates prepares for his "Guitar Hero" act during the opening keynote for 2008 International CES. image:38641:5::0

The Vista is getting blurry for Microsoft it seems. If we are to take Bill Gates word for it, next year we might see the launch of Windows 7. The touted successor to the Vista OS. Speaking before the Inter-American Development Bank on Friday Bill Gates responded to a query

"Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version. I'm super-enthused about what it will do in lots of ways."

Windows 7 is the code name (also known variously as Blackcomb and Vienna) for the successor to Vista. When officially launched, client versions of Windows 7 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. A server variant, codenamed Windows Server 7, is also under development. Microsoft had previously maintained a silence about the details of Windows 7's development though they had said that they would be keeping to a '3 year time frame'. No release date had been specified and this is the first time something about its tentative launch has come out. If it does get launched in 2009, it will put the software ahead by one year of the three-year cycle that Microsoft normally works on for OS releases. Remember, Vista came out in January 2007. Of course, the launch could be just a beta version geared for user feedback and improvements prior to a full fledged final launch. The software major had earlier said that it would work on an accelerated time frame for future releases, as Vista's development had taken nearly five years. Their is still an uncertainty as no official statement has been forthcoming post Bill Gates's statement.

Industry watchers though say a sooner release of Windows 7 could be on the cards, looking at the relatively poor reception the Vista has received. Even the recent release of SP1 (Service Pack 1) for the OS did not meet with grinning acceptance. Primary to that have been the oft repeated complaints of Vista's resource requirements and it's incompatibility with many pre existing third party software’s. To review, PC users need a computer with at least a 1-GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, and a 40-GB hard drive. By contrast, Windows XP Professional requires only a 300-MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, and a 1.5-GB disk. Microsoft has extended the sell by date of Windows XP on low cost computers through to 2010 or till one year post the launch of the next OS.

Failure to meet expectations through Windows Vista and fear of bottom line loses to other operating systems which can be handled by low cost PCs may drive the future development and marketing efforts of Microsoft. Whatever grouses we have (or don't have) for Vista, we can only wait with bated breath for next year.

PS: It is rumored that the new OS will have 'touch features' and advanced speech and handwriting recognition technologies. I don't know though what it's going to do for the resource requirements.