Topic: Microsoft Already Has Plans for the Next O.S

[Amker]

Microsoft announced at a conference held for its field sales force in Orlando that the company is starting work on a new operating system, internally known as "7" that should hit the market in about three years and become the successor of Windows Vista.

As Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows Vista did not produce the expected revolution in the 
personal computing field and it even has problems in replacing the older but more hardware friendly  and
compatible Windows XP. Vista is kind of a failure at least from most computer hardware manufacturers point of view as they were expecting a very high number of demands for Vista running computers and instead they were asked by customers on more than one occasion to keep shipping computers running Windows XP.

Sources close to the software and hardware producing company said that "7" is the client version of the next operating system and several steps will be taken by Microsoft to establish a more predictable release schedule and a more "iterative" informing process, by letting computer hardware manufacturers and customers know what to expect and when to prepare for an operating system transition. Just like Windows Vista, the 7 version will be shipped in both consumer and business versions as well as in 32-bit and 64-bit ones. The company also said that a subscription model was being considered as a means to supplement Windows, but declined to provide further details.

Previously, Windows 7 was known by its code name Vienna and a company's representative confirmed that 7 is just an internal code name and that these details were presented "as part of our ongoing outreach to enterprise customers and partners, Microsoft has begun sharing plans for how they will continue to deliver value to businesses in the future…Software Assurance customers in particular," a representative said in a statement via e-mail and was cited by the Web based news site ZDNet.com. Unlike Vista, that had a long developing process, 7 is expected to hit the market in about three years but, according to the said representative "Microsoft is scoping Windows 7 development to a three-year time frame, and then the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting the quality bar."

Zdnet