As far as Microsoft is concerned, mum's the word when it comes down to Windows 7. And this scenario was synchronized to perfection with the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas. CES is traditionally a unique landmark in the global technology landscape, and as far as Microsoft is concerned, Chairman Bill Gates, a key figure of the event with his keynotes since 1994, always offered a sneak peak into the future. Back in 1994, Microsoft was getting ready to release Windows 95. In 2008, the Redmond company is moving ahead with Vista, preparing the launch of Service Pack 1, and is cooking Windows 7 in Redmond 'utero'. Speaking of which, Windows 7 has got to be one of the most important pieces of technology that has been absent from CES 2008. Gates failed to make even the slightest mention of the future of Windows. All that the users got were statistics of Vista's install base.

"A year ago, we launched Vista", Gates stated. "I'm pleased to say that we've got over 100 million people using Vista now, and that's a very significant milestone for the kind of applications development, and special hardware work that we think is very important. We have great partners building neat new form factor PCs using unique capabilities. A lot of these are portable devices. A lot of them are far more stylish than anything you've seen before, smaller, fitting into new ways that people use personal computers."

There are little details available about Windows 7, outside of the fact that Vista's successor is planned in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions for 2010, and scarce indications of a major graphical user interface overhaul. But Gates' position is understandable, after all, his last day at Microsoft will come in mid 2008. However, Steven Sinofsky, also present at CES 2008, failed to offer a single detail about Windows 7. Steven Sinofsky, in case you don't know, is the senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group - the user experience of Microsoft Windows and Windows Live services, according to his official bio. But you probably know him by his complete alias: Steven codename Translucency Sinofsky. It also fell on Gates to deliver an update related to Windows Live.

"For us, our Windows Live now, over 400 million people using those services, including the new version rolled out a few months ago. Windows Mobile, over 10 million new users last year, and double that in the next year. So quite a variety of form factors, and a growing platform there because as the capabilities of the phone have now gotten so rich, the breadth of applications that you want to run there is getting larger and larger. And that is certainly an environment where the input has been a limiting factor, and the new platform capabilities will really allow you to do applications that were impossible before", Gates added.