Information about the next version of Windows is hard to come by; we certainly had more information about Vista/Longhorn. Now it seems that someone in Microsoft has confirmed the shipping date of Windows 7 to be January 2010. Just 18 months away.
What amuses me is the claim by the Microsoft VP that "You have told us you want a more regular, predictable Windows release schedule".
That may be true of corporate customers. I say may, we're still firmly on Windows XP here, but I don't think it's true of home users. Quite the reverse. The storm of protest that we've heard over ending sales of Windows XP has been quite clear. Much of this has been the mistaken belief that Microsoft will stop supporting XP and force everyone to Vista, even though support will continue to 2014 and there is no time limit on the license agreement for XP. The overall message is that people are happy with XP and don't see the need to upgrade.
Personally, I need to hear about some new compelling reasons to consider upgrading. Touch screen control is all well and good but it's not exactly new. I saw touch (and basic multi-touch) when hp launched their new TouchSmart computers a couple of weeks ago.
Maybe this is why companies are considering software as a service and asking people to pay a monthly fee to use it. Most software is so mature now that new versions seem to struggle to add compelling new features.