Finally Microsoft has gone on the record: The next version of Windows, known currently only as Windows 7, is slated for delivery to consumers by 2010. The confirmation is a reversal of months of Microsoft's refusal to commit to a ship date for the product, or even more than a vague acknowledgment that, yes, there would be another version of Windows somewhere down the line.

Windows 7 development seems well underway now. In fact the company has delivered a version of the OS to government regulators so it could be checked for compliance with the various antitrust rulings  and verdicts against the company. (One quite credible rumor says that Windows 7 will be highly integrated with Microsoft's Windows Live online services, hence the additional antitrust concern.) But other than looking at leaked timelines and conjecture about what Windows 7 might look like, no reliable intel has emerged about features, interface, or much of anything else. (When rumors swirl around an updated version of Paint and the Calculator, you know there's not much to talk about.)

Still, 2010 isn't sounding like too long to wait for a new OS, for those users looking to leapfrog Vista and go directly from XP to W7. Of course, Microsoft would greatly prefer you buy Vista immediately instead of waiting, hence the silent treatment on Windows 7.

Meanwhile, a new build of Windows 7 is rumored for arrival in the late spring or early summer. Hopefully the code will fall into more hands by then, along with the opportunity for us all to take a little closer look. Stay tuned.