A few days immediately after a Windows Core Running Program Division executive stated to anticipate the next edition of Windows to ship intwo many years,
Microsoft Office 2007 Key, Microsoft is attempting to distance itself from his pronouncement. Microsoft posted to its press Internet web site on February 13 an official "Microsoft Statement in Response to Speculation on Next Edition of Windows." “The launch of Windows Vista was an incredibly exciting moment for our customers and partners around the world, and the company is focused on the value Windows Vista will bring to people today. We are not giving official guidance to the public yet about the following version of Windows,
Office Standard 2010, other than that we’re working on it. When we are ready,
Office Pro Plus 2007 Key, we will provide updates,
Office 2007 Enterprise Key,” read the statement, attributed to Kevin Kutz, Director,
Office Standard, Windows Client. Does that mean Corporate Vice President Ben Fathi, the Microsoft exec who floated the 2009 date for the following release of Windows that shall not be named (but is
Windows 7) was wrong? Microsoft isn't going that far. What is the company trying to say? "We don't want to be held accountable to a ship-date target." While not talking about the next version of Windows until officials are good and ready is a nice theory, it's a bad practice. Sure, Microsoft would be foolish to disclose at this point a full feature list for an working system that is only in the very earliest phases of development. But customers want and need to know roughly what's coming when in order to plan their corporate and consumer PC purchases. There's a big difference between 2009 (the supposed current target for
Windows 7) and 2011 (the possible target given Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' two-to-four year time window for the following version of Windows). The
Windows 7 genie is out of the bottle. Trying to stuff it back in will do nothing but create more customer confusion.Windows-Now blogger Robert McLaws has his own take on the Microsoft statement on the next version of Windows.