Next Version of Windows Arrive Early?

Version of Windows Arrive Early?

MICROSOFT RECENTLY dropped two strong hints that the next version of its Windows operating system will arrive in 2009, up to a year sooner than anticipated. The hints might signal Mi­crosoft's intention to cut its losses with Windows Vista, which customers, especially large companies, have grudg­ingly accepted or shunned.

The company has long said that it wants to release Win­dows 7 about three years after Vista, and most outsid­ers had pegged 2010 as a like­ly arrival year for the new OS. But recently in Miami, Micro-soft chairman Bill Gates reportedly said in response to a question about _Vistaj "gome-time in the next year or so we'll have a new version."

And in announcing plans to extend the availability of Windows XP Home for low-cost laptops, Microsoft said it would retire the OS only after June 30, 2010, or one year after the release of Windows 7, whichever came later.

The announcement's word­ing implies that the company may be targeting the middle of next year as a release milestone for Windows 7.

Microsoft has divulged few of the changes planned for the new operating system.