Redmond (WA) - Microsoft has issued a statement on reports that the successor of Windows Vista will be released in 2009.

In a note posted on Microsoft's website, Kevin Kutz, director for the Windows Client division was quoted saying "we are not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows, other than that we're working on it. When we are ready, we will provide updates."

Not surprisingly, Microsoft points its customers to Windows Vista, which was launched on January 30. "The launch of Windows Vista was an incredibly exciting moment for our customers and partners around the world, and the company is focused on the value Windows Vista will bring to people today."

A quote of Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Core Operating System division, recently made the rounds on the Internet in which the executive reportedly stated that the next Windows will released by the summer of 2009. "You can think roughly two, two-and-a-half years is a reasonable time frame that our partners can depend on and can work with," he told PC World. Bill Gates previously had mentioned that the five-year gap between the release of Windows XP and Vista was unusually long and that the company aims to provide more frequent operating system release in the future.

If the next Windows, code-named "Vienna" in fact is on track for a 2009 release, then developers should be seeing the first beta versions of the software by mid-2008. Before that we are likely to see a service pack for Vista, as the company is already looking for "SP1" testers through the firm's Technology Adoption Program (TAP).