Microsoft says next month's annual WinHEC will be last before launch


(Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. may release Windows 7 as early as next November, bloggers speculated today, pointing to postings on the company's own Web site and comments made by the CEO of Asustek Computer Inc., the company that makes the popular Eee PC line of netbooks.

According to Long Zheng, who writes the Istartedsomething.com blog, and Ed Bott, a well-known Windows blogger, clues point to a 2009 release of Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista.

Long noted that Microsoft's site for its upcoming Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), which opens Nov. 5 in Los Angeles, warns developers that this year's event will be the last before Windows 7's launch. "Be one of the first to see what's new in Windows 7 and be among a select few to receive a prebeta build of Windows 7," the Microsoft site reads. "WinHEC is the only chance for you to engage with the team at this level -- there is not another WinHEC planned before Windows 7 is released."

WinHEC has been an annual affair since 1991 and has typically been held in April or May. Microsoft delayed the conference this year, however, pushing it back from that usual window to November.

Microsoft has not set a ship date for Windows 7, although executives have said their goal is to launch the operating system three years after the debut of Vista, which was released to businesses in November 2006 and to consumers and PC makers in January 2007. Analysts have typically interpreted Microsoft's broad timetable to mean that Windows 7 will ship in the second half of 2009 or in early 2010.


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