According to Ray Chen, president of Taiwanese notebook maker Compal, Microsoft could start shipping Windows 7 in late Q3.

“According to current planning, it should be late September or early October,” said Chen, and Microsoft has not confirmed nor denied his claims. Chen expects the new OS could boost PC sales, although he expects global notebook shipments will grow just slightly, by 5 million, from 120 million in 2008 to 125 million units in 2009.

Windows 7 was originally expected to launch in early 2010, 3 years after Vista, which launched in January 2007. Recent reports, however, indicate Microsoft could launch a few months earlier.

The new OS is seen by punters as "Vista done right", as it has much better performance than Vista, and it reportedly has somewhat lower hardware requirements, which means a lot in the netbook/notebook market.

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