Vista’s Successor, Windows Vienna is currently planned for release in 2009. Originally, Windows Vista was planned for release in 2003, and was to be a “stepping-stone” between XP and Vienna. Instead, Vista was set-back over 3 years, and actually ended up with many of the features that Vienna was to have.
Microsoft has had Vienna in the works for quite some time now, so a release date in 2009 may actually be realistic and attainable. Rumors are already floating around about what will be the next “wow” feature of the next version. Ben Fathi who is the corporate vice president of development with the Windows Core Operating System Division was talking with PC World and says, “We’re going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s a new user interface paradigm for consumers.”
According to Download squad, Vienna will have a new file system, as well as a new user interface which would eliminate the start menu and toolbars. If those features are really part of Vienna, this would make it the most unique, re-defined version of Windows yet.
Just a few thoughts: First, don’t get too excited over 2009, afterall, it could end up being 2012. Secondly, if it really is just a few years until Vienna, is it worth making the upgrade to Vista?
Sources: PC World, Download Squad
Thanks for the tip CoryC!
I have heard a lot of comments about Vista being the last major OS release for Microsoft. Surely Vienna is just a planned upgrade or SP1 – especially so soon??
There has been talk about that(Vista being the last major OS), but the latest buzz is that Vienna will now be the last of this “generation” of Windows.
The first service pack for Vista has been code named Fiji, and it’s scheduled for release this year.
I don’t think Microsoft will ever stop making major releases of Windows, but they won’t be as major after Vienna, with somewhat more frequent releases.
Also, is it worth it to upgrade to Vista? If you’re not running XP, then definitely. If you are, it depends on what you do. If you are a casual user who browses the internet and writes Word documents, then no. If you are, say, a gamer who needs DX10 to play Halo 2, then yes.
I’m just waiting for the calls from my family members who are the casual users you mentioned. When they get a computer with Vista they’re going to be like “there was a new version of Windows released?”