Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates seems to believe that Windows 7 the codename for the next major version of the Windows client operating system, is closer to release than anyone else expects.Initial reports have previously stated that Microsoft could release Windows 7 by the middle to late 2010.

However, Cnet on Friday reported that while Gates was responding to a question about Vista during a speech to the Inter-American Development Bank he said - “Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version.” It is not clear if Gates was referring to early development versions of Windows 7, a public beta release or simply that Windows 7 would be ready to ship in final form earlier than has been previously thought.

It is known that Microsoft did wish to ship the next version of Windows within a three year time slot of the release of Windows Vista, which took around five years to develop and release back in January 2007. The first service pack has only just been released with mixed results. Can Microsoft therefore release and develope Windows 7 after such a short timeframe?

More and more people appear to be disillusioned with Windows Vista which has been marred by repeated delays, compatibility problems and shifting feature lists, as a result they are returning to its more reliable predecessor Windows XP which will only be shipped with new computers until 30 June this year

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