You may have heard that Windows 7 is due to be released soon, a major upset in the operating system market. Windows 7 is coming out because Vista is so buggy that Microsoft is creating a new OS rather than trying to fix it.
There are many rumors about upgrading to Windows 7, and what Windows 7 really will do. Here's some help:

• No, you do not have to upgrade to Vista first. Microsoft is discontinuing regular support for Windows XP in a few months. After that, there will be no support for new applications that may have difficulties with Windows XP. That's why Microsoft is trying to get people to upgrade to Vista, but I wouldn't do it (this information comes from the Microsoft "Windows For Your Business" blog).
• No, at this point, Microsoft is not even considering a free upgrade from Vista. That's just sad. Vista has been the worst operating system we've seen since Windows 3.1. It's buggy, clunky, and just not user-friendly. That's probably why the sales have been so terrible for this operating system.
• No, none of this has anything to do with web design or the Internet. The Internet runs over 90% off the LInux and Unix operating systems. These systems are more stable, less buggy, and less prone to hacking and viruses than Microsoft operating systems.

Basically, (in my opinion) what it comes down to is this: Microsoft tried to get more money from us by creating Windows Vista right when XP started working better (SP2). However, Vista was so buggy that Microsoft lost money on it. So now they are coming out with another operating system to replace the buggy one, and charging us all over again.

Recommendation: Do not buy any OS upgrades from Microsoft before Service Pack 1 comes out (unless it's pre-loaded on a new computer and you don't have a choice). Anything before that is really just their beta version.