New
#100
Well a simple look back in the Windows history shows the pattern seen for new versions until Vista was delayed several times. Due to the large amount of hardware capacity changes seen in that time MS made the mistake of not raising the minimum system requirements ending with everyone running 512mb-1gb systems screaming about performance issues.
After all that and not wanting to see another ME II flop MS then had to take a serious look at refining the next version to meet the average consumer needs for the desktop editions to follow starting with 7. This is one main reason why 7 has been made more widely available with the RCs over needing to sign up for the Vista RC previously in order to reach out to the customer base a bit further.