Although still somewhat speculative just now, word has it at The Inquirer today that there's a good chance "Vista" will be the last variant of Windows based operating systems from the giant software mob.

Gartner said that next gen operating environments will be modular and be updated incrementally. "The era of monolithic deployments of software releases is nearing an end," it said. "Microsoft will be a visible player in this movement and the result will be more flexible updates to Windows and a new focus on quality overall."