Next Windows version to be officially named Windows 7

Microsoft has decided to keep the codename of a new version of its operating system for the final version for the first time in the companies history. Mike Nash, corporate vice president for Windows Product Management, has announced the news in the Windows Vista Team Blog. The name has been chosen, he says, for the sake of simplicity.

He went on to explain that during the company's history, Microsoft has taken different approaches to naming Windows: version numbers like Windows 3.11 or dates like Windows 98. Since a new version of Windows doesn't come out every year, "using a date did not make sense". Because of this Microsoft later created "aspirational" names such as Windows XP ("experience") and Windows Vista, both intended to express a certain degree of ambition. Now, Nash says, Microsoft has decided on a simpler naming method to give better expression to its substantial investments in platform technology.

Microsoft will be presenting a pre-beta "developer only" release at the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in late October and at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in early November at which, Nash says attendees will get "the first broad in-depth look at what we've been up to".

Windows 7 is expected to appear in 32-bit and 64-bit versions in 2010, and its kernel will be based on that of Windows Server 2008, itself a further development of the Vista kernel. Windows 7 will be completely compatible with Vista, so that not only will all applications run, but also all Vista drivers. The new operating system will probably be multitouch-capable, just like an iPhone. There had been some speculation in September that an initial beta of Windows 7 might appear even before the end of this year.

(djwm)