Even before the advent of Windows 7, Microsoft was hard at work planning the next iterations of the Windows client and server platforms. But even though the successor of Windows 7, commonly referred to, even by Microsoft’s own employees, under the codename Windows 8, was in planning, the Redmond company is not sharing any details on the release with the public.

The silence continues even at this point in time, when the first reports indicating that Microsoft has actually kicked off the development process for Windows 8 began emerging. Still, sometimes details leak outside of Redmond. It is the case of a Program Manager on the Windows 8 team which claims that the next version of Windows will be unlike anything users expect of the
operating system.

“The minimum that folks can take for granted is that the next version will be something completly different from what folks usually expect of Windows - I am simply impressed with the process that Steven has setup to listen to our customers needs and wants and get a team together than can make it happen. To actually bring together dozens and dozens of teams across Microsoft to come up with a vision for Windows.next is a process that is surreal! The themes that have been floated truly reflect what people have been looking for years and it will change the way people think about PCs and the way they use them. It is the future of PCs... Thats about it for this post for the time being - I know I'm not sharing much at this point but right now I can't as we work towards finalizing that vision,” the PM said.

The details were published on a blog post from January 31st, 2010, titled “What’s in store for the next Windows.” (via ActiveWin). The post has since then been removed, but users can still access it via Google Cache and read it entirely. Another aspect discussed in the article is the Windows 8 moniker. According to the PM, there’s little point in calling the successor of Windows 7 Windows 8, since the label is not definitive. Steven Sinofsky, president, Windows and Windows Live Division, objected in the past to the use of Windows 8 label for Windows vNext. And of course, there’s no guarantee that Windows 8 will be the official brand under which the next iteration of the client will be released to customers, even though codename Windows 7 ended up as Windows 7.

“I agree with Steven that till things are baked there is no point floating ideas since it leaves people frustrated when things don't turn out the way they expected. The Windows team promised to deliver a smarter, faster and more user friendly OS with Windows 7 and they delivered just that - the latest quaterly results of Microsoft are a clear indication that Windows 7 has been a success and customers got what Microsoft had promised them! The plan is to use a similar approach for the next version of Windows and till things are finalized you're not going to get a "marketing" name from us. So how am I referring to the next version of Windows without saying that many words - well simple - Windows.next:) This is definitely not the official version but a version that is becoming common along my circle,” the PM explained.

The only question is, of course, whether the fact that Windows vNext is going to be different than users expect it to be makes Windows 8 revolutionary rather than evolutionary, as Windows 7 was to Windows Vista.