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Writing on his blog, the engineer says the Tablet PC "remains one of the coolest projects remaining in mainstream computing".

He then issues a bold claim about the Tablet PC developments that will arrive with Windows 7. "I will say that if you are impressed by the 'touch features' in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7," says the engineer, Hilton Locke. "Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows

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Touch Technology is going to drive their sales."

Locke doesn't detail what we can expect from Windows 7's touchscreen features, but considering that the new operating system won't launch before 2009, the company certainly has time on its side.

That said, Microsoft's had plenty of time to crack the technology already. The company first launched a Tablet PC version of Windows back in 2002, but the technology has never attracted more than a niche following.

With the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft decided to stop making Tablet PC a separate version of the operating system and integrated the technology into Windows, but even that has failed to spark demand.

However, Locke's comments suggest that Microsoft might be looking beyond the traditional desktop and laptop market with Windows 7 and, like Mac OS X, use the same underlying OS to run everything from mobile phones to workstations.

Locke's comments are just the latest glimpse into Microsoft's plans for Windows 7. Last month, a leaked document revealed the features users most wanted to see in the next version of Windows.