That’s right! The big news in the digital universe this morning is that Miscrosoft — perhaps after enduring increasing ridicule and criticism over the ‘asperational’ names it’s attached to recent versions of its flagship operating system — has decided to simply call the next full version ‘Windows 7’.

Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management, officially leaked the decision this morning via a post at the official Windows Vista Team Blog.

Quoth Nash:

“The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or ‘aspirational’ monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new “aspirational” name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.”

Now, if only they can extend their commitment to simplicity to streamlining the code and making Windows 7 a lot faster to start and run…

Based on past experience, Windows watchers aren’t holding their breath.