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After months of information lockdown, Microsoft is ready to begin talking about the next version of Windows. The first bits of information come from the very top, with a new blog that was unveiled today on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). Given the location, it’s not surprising that its name is Engineering Windows 7 and that its focus will be on “the overall engineering aspects of building Windows 7.”

What is surprising is who is slated to host (and write) the new blog, which is due to remain up and running until Windows 7 ships. The co-authors are the Microsoft Senior VPs in charge of Windows 7: Steven Sinofsky, who runs the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, and Jon DeVaan, who’s in charge of the Windows Core Operating System Division. Their first post offers an explanation for the silence so far:

In leading up to this blog we have seen a lot of discussion in blogs about what Microsoft might be trying to accomplish by maintaining a little bit more control over the communication around Windows 7 (some might say that this is a significant understatement). We, as a team, definitely learned some lessons about “disclosure” and how we can all too easily get ahead of ourselves in talking about features before our understanding of them is solid. Our intent with Windows 7 and the pre-release communication is to make sure that we have a reasonable degree of confidence in what we talk about when we do talk. Again, top of mind for us is the responsibility we feel to make sure we are not stressing priorities, churning resource allocations, or causing strategic confusion among the tens of thousands of partners and customers who care deeply and have much invested in the evolution of Windows.

That’s a pretty healthy helping of Microsopeak: I think “churning resource allocations” means something like “spinning our wheels,” but I have to confess it’s a new one for me. But there’s no doubt what “make sure that we have a reasonable degree of confidence in what we talk about when we do talk” means.

Related to disclosure is the idea of how we make sure not to set expectations around the release that end up disappointing you—features that don’t make it, claims that don’t stick, or support we don’t provide. Starting from the first days of developing Windows 7, we have committed as a team to “promise and deliver”. That’s our goal—share with you what we’re going to get done, why we’re doing it, and deliver it with high quality and on time.

Oh, and comments are open, too. Those should be fun reading.