Vista's successor Vienna may be ready in 2009

After the release of Vista, Microsoft is drawing up plans for its successor Vienna.

This would be a much faster turn-around than Vista, which shipped more than five years after Windows XP, but Vista was exceptional, said Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft's Windows Core Operating System Division, more likely by the end of 2009.

Last year, Microsoft called Vista follow-up Vienna, but Fathi is unsure of the name. On the question what to expect from Vienna he points at a fundamental piece of enabling technology, probably hypervisors, and a new user interface paradigm for consumers.