Microsoft looks beyond Vista: Vienna in 2009?
Ever forward-looking, Microsoft is already murmuring about its post-Vista plans. Given that it took so long for Vista to arrive, and that key features were left out in order to hit deadlines, that’s not too surprising.
Come 2009, we could have “Vienna” – at least that’s the code name for the next incarnation of Windows.
Nothing’s really official yet, but if Apple can thrive on rumours and speculation, I don’t see why Microsoft can’t as well.
CEO Steve Ballmer has already talked beyond Vista at its launch, saying that Microsoft would like to see more built-in support at the operating system level, and the requirement from consumers for an OS that goes far beyond what Vista can offer, due to the increasing convergence of communications and consumer electronics products.
One report I read hinted at ‘multiple desktops’ being one feature of a future Windows OS. Whilst that’s a relatively small feature and I’m sure MS would develop much beyond that, it’s interesting to note once again that certain other operating systems already have this feature, or will do within the next few months.
What will be interesting is whether full-blown operating systems will still be the order of the day in 2009. My hunch is that they will be – we won’t quite be ready to offload everything onto the Internet.
