Microsoft Corp plans to let consumers test the next generation of its computer operating system, Windows 7, starting on Friday and said the new software is "absolutely on track."

Wall Street has identified the timely launch of retail sales of Windows 7 as one of the critical challenges for Microsoft this year, after Windows Vista debuted 12 to 15 months late in January 2007.

Windows 7 is "absolutely on track," Robbie Bach, president of entertainment & devices at Microsoft, said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

He declined to give a specific release date beyond the beta testing on January 9, though he reiterated Microsoft's pledge to deliver Windows 7 around three years after Vista.

According to Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal, the market expects Windows 7 to debut in November 2009. "However, Vista was (late) and it did cost Microsoft dearly in terms of loss of many senior executives, pressure from partners, and increasing competition," he said in a research note this week.

Microsoft, the world's biggest maker of software, has said Windows 7 will incorporate touch screen technology and allow users to more easily personalize the system. It promised more user-friendly features, such as a new taskbar that previews all open windows from a single application by hovering over the program's icon. Another new feature, "Jump Lists," provides updated lists of recently worked-on documents or oft-visited websites without first having to open Microsoft Word or an Internet browser.

At CES, Microsoft also announced a series of new deals designed to show its ability to ride out the economic crisis that has hurt spending on personal computers. Shares of Microsoft fell 6 per cent on Wednesday after chip giant Intel Corp alarmed tech investors by issuing yet another revenue warning.

... contd.