A new clue emerged this week pointing out that the successor of Windows 7 is indeed planned for 2012.
According to Jason Heyes, Solution Architect, Microsoft, Windows Next will be offered in 2012+, with the information shared in a PowerPoint presentation titled “Desktop as a Service” and shared at the Microsoft Architect Insight Conference 2010 (via Mary-Jo Foley and MA-Config).
Windows Next, in case you were wondering is Microsoft’s way of referring to the next major iteration of Windows without using an actual codename. Another popular choice is Window vNext.
And of course, there’s always the Windows 8 moniker, which the software giant is currently extremely careful not to usher.
The “Desktop as a Service” presentation does provide some indirect confirmation that Windows 8 is planned for availability roughly three years after the release of Windows 7, but it also confirms one other detail that was included in documentation leaked earlier this year.