Here’s the thing. Bill Gates doesn’t really do anything at Microsoft anymore except stir the pot once in awhile.

He’s basically retired and bored, so in order to liven things up he’ll say something like “Windows 7 will be available next year!!!” and then he’ll steal a bunch of pencils from the supply closet and run down the hall singing ‘Renegade’ by Styx.

So last Friday, Gates told Reuters that he expected Windows 7 to be released “sometime in the next year or so,” to which the people at Microsoft who actually work all day long said, “Ho-ho-hold it,” and announced that Windows 7 would be available three years from when Vista was first available to consumers, which would put it into 2010 according to InformationWeek.