The new version of Windows (codenamed Windows 7) is planning to be released in 2010 but wallpapers have already been released by wallpaper designers. Click here to download wallpaper pack 1 or click the images below to see and download the wallpapers.

Vista has just been released…well, almost just. ‘To upgrade’ or ‘not to upgrade’ or ‘when to updrade’, is the question on top of most minds ! Now ? Or After the SP1. Corporates & Individuals, waiting for the SP1 to iron out minor Vista issues, before deciding to take the plunge, feel good when they read in a reputed blog : “Vista SP1 coming soon, say sources !” The blog gets a lot of reads. Then two days, later the same writer again says : “SP1 not coming so soon !” The Blog again gets a lot of hits ! The rumour mill sure is active !

To add fuel to fire, is all talk of “Windows7″. “Expect Windows7 by 2010″ ! Hey, thats just 3 years from now ! Sould one then wait for Windows7 to udgrade, which is said to be a really outstanting OS ! But what if the date slips ?

True, such talk always keeps Microsoft in the news, but it also hurts the cause of consumers waiting to upgrade. No doubt, Windows always draws speculation, probably because it is so basic to everything that we do these days with computers. But again sources say that currently the Windows7 is still on drawing board for MS. There is still a lot of innovation that needs to flow to the customers from Vista launch. But with such talk, Windows7 is threatening to steal the thunder away from Vista and eclipse Vista/SP1 in public MindSpace !!!

Internally, MS doesn’t want dust kicking on Windows7; Not even its Mktg does; Its is just what speculators have been talking about ! Microsoft then needs to issue a clear cut time frame, well atleast to the nearest quarter period, as to when a consumer should expect the SP1, If at all it does actually plan to release one. Or is it abandoning the idea of “Service Packs”, and just release these fixes through Windows Update or otherwise, throughout the year, the latest “Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack” being an example.

Microsoft Windows 7 is the latest internal name and a rebrand of Windows vienna which is the successor of Windows Vista. Microsoft promised the software would be ready in three years time and the same delay that took Windows Vista five years to launch would no longer happen in Windows 7. Microsoft said they have made the necessary organizational changes to ensure the software is delivered in three years.

I am not sure whether reorganization would help deliver the operating system in time especially when the product is customized and tweaked to closely meet the changing demands of the IT landscape. In a feature intensive product like Windows, the need to incorporate technology demands and changes is necessary and sometimes the boundary to when the team should stop changing the requirements depends a lot on gut feel and vision.

Microsoft needs to change their approach and strategy during product launches wherein they initially deliver a baseline set of features and slowly send the additional features through quarterly builds. At the same time, consumers should also pay in installments depending on the number of builds expected for the operating system. Microsoft hinted that they might go with a subscription model in Windows 7 which could work well with incremental builds.

Windows Vista hit the market 6 months ago and contrary to so many pathetic whiners, I have enjoyed and used Windows Vista to its full extent. I am looking forward to Windows 7.

Windows 7 may not make it on time on a full feature set; but it would not be like the delays we have experienced in Windows Vista, I hope.

Vista is barely starting to take hold in the marketplace, yet the loose lips in Redmond are once again busily quivering in time with their wagging tongues about the next generation operating system code named Windows 7.

According to reports on CNet and Seattlepi.com , among others, Windows 7 is due in 2010. However, the way Vista development went, who can tell?
Anyway, aside from the fact that we now know there is a new operating system under development, the reports about what is circulating inside Microsoft say exactly nothing about the new operating system itself that could not already be used to describe Vista. Versions for business and consumers, 64-bit and 32-bit versions all get a tick - would we expect anything else?

What this is all about is Microsoft affirming that, Internet or not, operating systems are not going to go away and, for the foreseeable future Windows will be the company’s biggest money spinner. No new operating system for five years and sales and earnings of Microsoft’s client business stagnate to single digit percentage growth. Half a year of Vista and earnings growth shoots up to 12.7% for fiscal year 2007.

According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, soon we will see the Windows installed base pass 1 billion. So far 60 million copies of Vista have been shipped. That’s a lot of prospective Vista upgrades to come before Windows 7 is released. Not all will upgrade to a new Vista box but a heck of a lot will.

With Google and Apple growing like forest fires, Microsoft may not be the darling of the market anymore. However, unless something cataclysimic happens, it’s to deny that the software giant will continue to grow strongly and, armed with a stable of new generation software, is set for a pretty good ride over the next three years.

Then in 2010 it hopes to be able to do it all over again with Windows 7. Will it be able to? Unless 1 billion or so Windows computers become obsolete or someone comes up with a plug and play killer app that can migrate Windows users to Linux, then probably.