Billy Gates may have been doing some jive talkin when he mention that we’d see a new version of the OS “Sometime in the next year or so,” (“Or So” being the operative words)

Well don’t get yourself in a tizzy over crazy Bills developer speak. “As is standard with the release of a new product, we will be releasing early builds of Windows 7 prior to its general availability as a means to gain tester feedback,” a spokesman for Microsoft said, downplaying Gates statement.

Microsoft wants everyone to chill with the toned-down news that it’s got no plans to introduce Windows 7 any earlier than January 2010 (three years from the Vista launch). Lets hope the XP cutoff date is pushed out a bit.