Windows 7 could be out by next Christmas

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Microsoft wants to have Windows 7 on the shelves for next Christmas, according to reports.

A presentation given at the company's WinHEC conference suggested the company is planning to have the operating system ready by the middle of next year, a CNet report claims.

"Definitely the holiday [2009] focus is going to be on 7," Microsoft executive, Doug Howe, told the site's reporter.

Microsoft has, until now, remained non-committal on the Windows 7 launch date, sticking to the company line that the operating system would appear roughly three years after the launch of Vista, which would be January 2010.

At last week's Professional Developers Conference, Windows chief Stephen Sinofsky batted away questions about the launch date. "We really do mean we'll ship it when it's ready," he said as the company unveiled the first official details of Windows 7. "We don't need to be playing schedule goals all the time."

However, Microsoft drew strong criticism from PC vendors when it launched Vista to the general public in January 2007, just missing out on the vital Christmas sales period.

It seems the company is now attempting to avoid past mistakes and will have the operating system ready to roll in plenty of time for the holiday season.

Microsoft will also doubtless be eager to avoid leaving the much-maligned Vista on the shelves for any longer than is necessary.

Recent attempts to pep new life into the operating system, such as the 'Mojave' experiment and the ill-fated Gates and Seinfeld ads have seemingly done little to lift the gloom.

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