Vista follow-up Vienna in 2009 or whenever

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 13 February 2007 14:06

Opinion and Analysis

A report from the IDG News Service that Microsoft plans to release a follow up operating system to Vista code-named Vienna appears to be long on rhetoric but short on substance.

For a start, Vienna is the old code name. According to Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft's Windows Core Operating System Division, Microsoft insiders are not allowed to use the new name publicly. But this is Microsoft not Apple so expect it to leak out sometime soon.

Another piece of rhetoric is that the new operating system will be ready within two and half years. The rationale behind this is that it took roughly that amount of time between the delivery of XP SP2 and Vista. But wasn't Vista formerly known as Longhorn already under development before the SP2 update of XP?

The real kicker, however, is that Microsoft apparently still doesn't have a clue what this new operating system is going to have that Vista doesn't. At least that's the impression based on the words of Fathi, who indicates that it may have something to do with virtualization (hypervisors) or a new interface paradigm for consumers, and then claims that he doesn't know all in one breath.

So what we know is that Microsoft is planning a new operating system for 2009, which judging by past efforts could appear sometime around 2011 or 2012. The planned operating system was formerly code-named Vienna but now has a new moniker.

Finally, the operating system will probably have virtualization capabilities, enabling it to run guest operating systems, and will introduce a new interface paradigm for consumers.

In essence, this so-called Vienna sounds more like a wish list than an actual product under development.