Microsoft has previously said that it aims to launch the next version of Windows in 2010, but company’s co-founder Bill Gates said in a seminar today that he expects Windows 7 to appear sometime in 2009. Bill Gates further added that the new OS would focus on improved integration with cell phones and handhelds, advanced support for touch and multi-touch inputs and the latest technology in wireless and networking. It is also believed that Windows 7 will represent a major code break from previous versions of the OS resulting in implementation of a backwards compatibility layer (legacy layer) to support applications that ran on previous version of Windows. The legacy layer will be similar to the Classic layer used by Apple to support old applications in Mac OS X. Microsoft will create a application interface that will be called whenever a legacy program is launched. The new operating system will use a modular approach where new functionality can be added to the core OS just by installing a module. Microsoft has not officially give any details about Windows 7 but the information leaked online are definitely interesting.