New Windows 7

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. Th e hints might signal Microsoft’s intention to cut its losses with Windows Vista, which customers, especially large companies, have grudgingly accepted or shunned. Th e company has long said that it wants to release Windows 7 about three years aft er Vista, and most outsiders had pegged 2010 as a likely arrival year for the new OS. But recently in Miami, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates reportedly said in re sponse to a question about Vista, “Sometime 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 lowcost laptops , Microsoft said it would retire the OS only aft er June 30, 2010, or one year aft er the release of Windows 7, whichever came later. Th e announcement’s wording implies that the company may be targeting the middle of next year as a re lease milestone for Windows 7. Microsoft has divulged few of the changes planned for the new operating system.