After the debacle of the long Vista development cycle and rocky launch, Microsoft must be breathing a sigh of relief over the very positive reception for Windows 7 since a beta version was made available early last month. But it may still be too early to turn the page and move on.

Certainly, a lot of corporate users are starting to weigh whether to skip Vista altogether and move to 7. That much is admitted in a blog post today by Gavriella Schuster, senior director of the Windows product management group. The growing likelihood that 7 will come out in time for this year’s Christmas season – and possibly as early as July, to catch the back-to-school sales – has added to the sense of expectation.