Now that Vista is finally upon us, what plans do Microsoft have for their future Operating Systems? First, it seems like an update for Vista will come sometime in 2008. Although, I'd expect a service pack to come before that to solve any outstanding issues -- and increase sales.

The revision in 2008 -- codename ‘Fiji’ -- will be more than a minor patchup. It seems, from what little we know, that it will be akin to SP2 for Windows XP.

Fiji will include

-The UI will be updated with things that were originally promised for Vista,
along with a more powerful sidebar, which will be more than just a dock for
widgets (a.k.a. gadgets)

-.Net Framework will be updated to 3.5 (or maybe even 4)

-WinFS will be applied over NTFS to give us Virtual Folders
(or maybe just Saved Searches)

-All bundled application will be updated to newer versions

-Tighter integration with Windows Live. Probably through ‘Codename Nemo’, a
media center application thats integrated with Messenger, Spaces, and probably
lots of other Windows Live Services.

- We might see Monaco, a music authoring tool, similar to Apple’s Garageband.

- Default playback of HD-DVD (maybe even Blu-ray), Vista currently identifies
these disks but cannot play them without an external decoder.

-A more advanced Speech Recognition

-NGSCB will be implemented to make the system more secure.

-New themes, icons, wallpapers, games, and minor tweaks to almost everything.