14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is not talking Windows Vista SP1. Microsoft is not talking Windows XP SP3. Microsoft is not... well you get the idea. Future product releases such as Windows Seven, Windows Fiji and even Internet Explorer 8 are taboo for the Redmond company with Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group at the helm of the Windows platform. The fact of the matter is that Microsoft is a complete tabula rasa after Windows Vista. Having released Vista for the general consumers in January 2007, Microsoft is at a total loss, having no clue as to what comes next.
At least this is the opinion of Gartner Research VP Analyst Michael A. Silver. "Microsoft is not sharing much information about Windows 7, except to say that it's about three years away. In its disclosure, Microsoft offered little information - just a rough estimate of the expected timeline, an indication that there would be both 32- and 64-bit versions, and the assurance that Windows 7 will be a full release. This dearth of information indicates two things: at this time, Microsoft either does not really know what Windows 7 will comprise or does not want to commit publicly to what it will comprise. This makes sense, given that product delivery is three years away; and Windows 7 will be a date-driven release that will ship about three years after Windows Vista," Silver revealed. (emphasis added)
Well, this scenario - although it might seem far fetched - when it is focused on Windows Seven is not without validity. Planned for 2010, it is possible that the Windows Seven project may not be 100% complete. The operating system designed to succeed Vista could be nothing more than a sketchy plan at this point in time. Still, is Silver's argument valid for all additional products related to the Windows platform? Is the shortage of information available on Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3, IE8 and Windows Fiji and indication of the fact that the company has no idea as to what the releases will comprise?
Because Vista SP1 is already shipping to select testers, we can scratch it from the tabula rasa list. The same is valid for the next update of Windows Media Center dubbed Windows Fiji, already on its way. But when it comes to Windows XP SP3 there is little doubt that Microsoft has yet to decide what the refresh will deliver. IE8 is another exception, with the Redmond company already dogfooding alpha builds of the browser. Just in case you were wondering why there are so little leaks related to Windows Seven and XP SP3, the answer is that there's almost nothing to leak...