The countdown clock is officially ticking: Windows 7 due in 2009

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told some members of the Windows Featured Communities team that the next version of Windows would be out some time two to four years from now.

This week, Windows Core Operating System Division Corporate Vice President Ben Fathi was quoted as saying the next version was more like two to two-and-a-half years away.

Fathi wavered when asked to itemize some of the key features Microsoft expects to include in the Windows Vista successor. He wouldn't even utter the code name -- which from everything I am hearing is "Windows 7," formerly known as "Vienna."

The countdown clock officially is ticking. The goal is Windows 7 in 2009.