Microsoft has broken its vow of silence over Windows 7, with Steve Ballmer claiming that the new operating system will arrive by “late 2009.” Read our news story to find out what’s coming in Windows 7 here.

That gives Mr B and the Microsoft engineers precisely 582 days (thank you Online Conversion.com) to get the operating system out of the door, or once again face ridicule for slipping deadlines.

On such a tight deadline (Vista took six years, remember) it’s patently obvious Microsoft isn’t ripping up Vista and starting again. Although the Vista Team Blog claims Windows 7 is a “major release”, it also reveals that the “the long-term architectural investments we introduced in Windows Vista and then refined for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 will carry forward in Windows 7.” There will be no new kernel either, with Microsoft even claiming that any hardware capable of running Vista will work fine with Windows 7.

So what will be new in Windows 7? All we really know so far is that it will sport iPhone-like multitouch technology, which is a brazen attempt by Microsoft to steal some of the iPhone’s stardust, but whether it proves as compelling an interface on the PC as it is on the phone is questionable.

My feeling is Microsoft’s going to need more in its locker than touchscreen technology to get people excited about Windows again. And it’s got 582 days to get on with it.