For software giant Microsoft, the bygone week was all about its newly-launched Windows 7 operating system which, after a rather long-stretched development phase, was finally released amid much fanfare on October 22 at New York City!

While Microsoft has evidently acknowledged the fact that a number of current platforms and applications are progressively more inclined towards the ‘cloud’, it only remains to be seen how fast the shift from Windows XP to Windows 7 is for most of the small-and-medium businesses.

Microsoft, which has been touting “three screens and a cloud” strategy for some time, has designed Windows 7 for increased interaction with the Web, and has also been undertaking other attempts to take a number of its core products to the cloud.

In addition, the company’s forthcoming next-generation productivity suite, Office 2010, will also include cloud-based versions of Word and other programs, which will boast accessibility via Windows Live.

The launch of the newest Microsoft Windows OS saw CEO Steve Ballmer suggesting that, though the economy does not present a very rosy picture, nearly 300 million PCs will be sold this year in the US, in different form-factors, including desktops, traditional notebooks, netbooks, ultra-thins, and the “all-in-one style of PC.”

Ballmer specified clearly that the definitive objective of his company was to broaden Windows computing to such an extent that it covers “every facet” of peoples’ lives!