Windows "Vienna" (formerly known as Blackcomb) is a codename for a future version of Microsoft Windows, originally announced in February 2000, but has since been subject to major delays and rescheduling. Microsoft has announced it will be released in 2009, and according to "Smart Computing In Plain English", a technology magazine, work on it began right after Windows Vista was released. As of February 2007, the name of the perating system used internally is undisclosed and is not used publicly by Microsoft, though "Windows 7" has been noted in job postings as a working name for the project.
Microsoft has refrained from discussing the details about "Vienna" publicly as they focus on the release and marketing of Windows Vista, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged at developer conferences such as Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in 2006.
Microsoft has stated that "Vienna" will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit for the client version, in order to ease the industry's transition from 32-bit to 64-bit computing. Vienna Server is expected to support only 64-bit server systems. There will be continued backward compatibility with 32-bit applications, but 16-bit Windows and MS-DOS applications will not be supported, as has been the case since the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. However, Paul Thurrott claims in his Supersite for Windows, that according to Microsoft's x64 migration schedule, Windows Vienna will almost certainly only ship in 64-bit editions.
At first, internal sources pitched Blackcomb as being not just a major revision of Windows, but a complete departure from the way users today typically think about interacting with a computer. For instance, the "Start" philosophy, introduced in Windows 95, may be replaced by the "new interface" which was said in 1999 to be scheduled for "Vienna" (before being moved to Vista and then back again to "Vienna"). While Windows Vista was intended to be an evolutionary release, Vienna was targeted directly at revolutionizing the way users of the product interact with their PCs. However, the situation has now changed. Windows Vista, which was expected to be a minor release became a major release, when it was released five years after the release of Windows XP. Windows "Vienna" will become a minor release, and is currently planned to be released two years after Windows Vista.
Mike from Greece, 14
Microsoft has refrained from discussing the details about "Vienna" publicly as they focus on the release and marketing of Windows Vista, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged at developer conferences such as Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in 2006.
Microsoft has stated that "Vienna" will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit for the client version, in order to ease the industry's transition from 32-bit to 64-bit computing. Vienna Server is expected to support only 64-bit server systems. There will be continued backward compatibility with 32-bit applications, but 16-bit Windows and MS-DOS applications will not be supported, as has been the case since the 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. However, Paul Thurrott claims in his Supersite for Windows, that according to Microsoft's x64 migration schedule, Windows Vienna will almost certainly only ship in 64-bit editions.
At first, internal sources pitched Blackcomb as being not just a major revision of Windows, but a complete departure from the way users today typically think about interacting with a computer. For instance, the "Start" philosophy, introduced in Windows 95, may be replaced by the "new interface" which was said in 1999 to be scheduled for "Vienna" (before being moved to Vista and then back again to "Vienna"). While Windows Vista was intended to be an evolutionary release, Vienna was targeted directly at revolutionizing the way users of the product interact with their PCs. However, the situation has now changed. Windows Vista, which was expected to be a minor release became a major release, when it was released five years after the release of Windows XP. Windows "Vienna" will become a minor release, and is currently planned to be released two years after Windows Vista.
In my opinion, I think that Microsoft should be a bit more well-organised, cause whatever it says the opposite happens, thus I don't think it's an objective source of tech information.
____________________Mike from Greece, 14