Microsoft says Windows 8 about two years away

Wondering how long that one-year-old Windows 7 OS will be the "current" Windows desktop platform? While nothing has been revealed in English, the Microsoft Dutch website has spilled the beans: Windows 8 will be available in about two years.

The post was actually focused on Windows 7's first birthday. In roughly Google-translated speak, the post said, at the end, "But it will take about two years before Windows 8 (is) on the market."

Windows 7 was introduced about 2 1/2 years after Windows Vista
. In that case, however, Windows Vista was ill-received, unlike Windows 7, and Microsoft needed to hurry something out. Windows 7 reached its one-year anniversary this last week, and Microsoft announced the OS had sold more than 240 million copies in its first year.

A Windows 8 release in two years would mark three years between OSes, which seems logical. After Windows Vista's numerous delays, Microsoft vowed to never go that long between OS releases again.

However, also this week at a Gartner symposium, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Windows 8 was Microsoft's "riskiest bet," at this time.