With Windows Vista hot out of the Redmond ovens, with Mac OS X Leopard still "In Apple Utero" and with Linux accounting for less than 1% of the operating systems market, the perspective shifts to the future. Not very far, just around 2010. Microsoft promised to make available the upcoming edition of the Windows platform and Windows Vista's successor within a two-year frame. Consequently, the analysts' predictions estimate that Windows Seven will be launched sometime in the span of 2009 - 2010.

Rob Enderle, the Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group, forecasted that Windows Seven will be designed as the maintenance release for Windows Vista. According to Enderle, Windows Seven will be focused on new developing technologies such as hybrid-hard drives, Intel's Robson and AMD's new Fusion platform. Windows Seven is destined to define the desktop from 2010 to 2015.

In Enderle's opinion Mac OS X Leopard is the strongest hand played by Apple since Steve Jobs has been at the head of the Cupertino-based company, and has been delayed not necessarily because of the iPhone but to deliver enhanced Windows interoperability. Enderle failed to foresee the growth of Apple as a dominant entity on the desktop. While Leopard has missed the opportunity to follow Windows Vista in terms of availability, the Apple operating system will be the strongest in 2009, and it remains to be seen if the Cupertino company will be able to speculate this.

Also in 2008, Linux will gather momentum with wind from HP, Dell and IBM in its sales. Despite this, Linux is credited with little chances to improve its position on the operating system market, even with the support of HP, Dell and IBM. And in 2008 both Linux and Mac OS X will have to compete against not Windows Vista but Windows Vista Service Pack 1, a release with a lot more market credibility than the original operating system.