Microsoft Windows 7

It appears that Microsoft is working on the successor to Vista, now named Windows 7. It is said to be on a 3 year development schedule and a milestone 1 build has been released to key Windows Partners.

Supposedly from all the rumors I've read this new version of Windows will be meant to supercede (replace) windows Vista and the following are some of the suspected key features that it will provide:

1. Service and client side architecture
2. Improved Hardware and performance capabilities
3. Improved collaborative solutions
4. Easy Bitlocker technology implementation
5. Hypervisor navigation
6. Touchscreen based navigation
7. Improved desktop search capability integrated in the Windows Server 2008.
8. Thin client and improved virtualization

Unfortunately, Microsoft itself seems to be tight lipped about the project and has not released any official feature lists for the newest Windows. It appears they don't want to make promises and not follow through on. This is a new approach for Microsoft, as they are notorious for promises that are never delivered. Perhaps, they are becoming more aware of the end user and are trying to provide a product that meets or exceeds expectations.

As of now the rumored release date for this latest Windows in open beta will not be until 2010.