“Microsoft is on course for the next version of Windows. But it will take about two years before ‘Windows 8’ on the market.” Winrumors.com grabbed and translated the post, and CNET took a screenshot of the text, which unsurprisingly disappeared shortly after the news stole headlines. Now Microsoft is back to being tight-lipped about Windows 8 and its expected release.
But most importantly, by the time Windows 8 supposedly drops, Microsoft is going to have Apple’s latest OS to contend with. Apple just gave a sneak peek of Mac OS X Lion — called a marriage of OS X and Apple’s mobile iOS — that includes some drool-inducing features like a desktop app store, advanced multitouch gestures, and more.
If Microsoft acts wisely, it stands a chance to emulate — and perhaps one-up — all of OS X Lion’s key features … or it could rush and produce another Vista.