Microsoft roadmap revealed by Dutch developer

Microsoft release plans posted on Flickr

A cloud computing consultancy has leaked a partial roadmap of key Microsoft releases for the next two years.

Maarten Visser, chief executive of Dutch company Meetroo, posted the plans on Twitter after he uncovered them on a public server.

While the Windows 8 release has not been revealed, Visser suggests that Office 15 will be released to manufacture in March 2013, along with updated versions of Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Project and Visio. A major update to Microsoft's mobile software will be released on 1 October, with further updates planned annually.

The latest version of Internet Explorer - IE10 - which continues to lose market share to rivals, principally Google Chrome, will be out by the summer, with updates planned on a two-year cycle. Office 365 and Lync, meanwhile, will be updated every quarter.

Support for Windows XP, meanwhile, which is still widely deployed worldwide, will cease in the first half of 2014, forcing many organisations to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.

Further detail on the roadmap has been published on Flickr here.