14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is considering the next version of Windows as the riskiest product bet by the Redmond company, according to a Mary-Jo Foley report. Windows 8, or Windows vNext as Microsoft would prefer it, is for the most part a great unknown.
In the post-Longhorn/Vista era, the software giant is extremely careful with the details it shares about Windows operating systems still in planning or in development.
The public should expect Windows 8 to be treated no differently from Windows 7, and some might still recall that Microsoft only started revealing information on the successor of Windows Vista quite late in the development process, when the feature set was all but set in stone.
However, every once in a while, there are glimpses into what exactly is coming, and the small comment from Steve Ballmer is exactly this.
Ballmer is not discussing a roadmap, features, capabilities, etc., he’s simply stating that out of all Microsoft products planned over the next years, Windows 8 is the riskiest bet.
Not Office 365, not Windows Azure, not Windows Phone, not Kinect, not Internet Explorer 9, but the successor of Windows 7.
This is indication that Microsoft is cooking something big with Windows 8. Remember, Windows 7 was considered evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and Windows Server 2008 R2 is what it is, a minor release.
Could this mean that Windows 8 will be a revolutionary operating system? Well, Microsoft would certainly need it.
Apple has just offered the first details for Mac OS X Lion, the successor of Snow Leopard, and the upcoming cat for mid-2011.
By all accounts, all but Microsoft’s, Windows vNext will drop some time in 2012. What we know for sure at this point in time is that Windows 8 has been in planning even before Windows 7 had hit Release Candidate back in the first half of 2009.
Microsoft has certainly had enough time to plan a revolutionary release of Windows. There’s talk of a file system revamp, performance overhauls, UI redesign, instant on, a Windows App Store. A better OS for partners, OEMs and users.
It might just take a revolutionary Windows release to shadow the fastest selling platform in history.