Next Version of Windows Will Be Riskiest Product

Is Windows a risky product for Microsoft? One could say no, as each new version of Windows is bundled with new PCs, making it an instantly huge seller.

But then you could get something like Windows Vista, which made huge strides in security and other subsystems over Windows XP, but still wasn't the new Windows that everyone wanted to use. Microsoft got it mostly right with Windows 7, and it's paying off now with 240 million licenses in its year on the market.

The big thing that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was excited about was putting computing into the cloud. Microsoft's focusing on cloud products, like the release of Office 365, but that aside, the interviewers wanted to know if the software company was taking any other risks.

Steve Ballmer was asked at an analyst conference what is Microsoft's riskiest product bet. The answer was "the next release of Windows."

To be fair, Ballmer did not clarify to say that it was Windows 8. It could have been Windows 7 SP1, though we doubt that the Service Pack that Microsoft itself has characterized as minor would be something risky for the company.

Last week, Microsoft Netherlands mentioned in a blog post, which has since been removed, that it will take about two years before Windows 8 hits the market.