With Windows 7 due to be released at the end of 2009, what changes should we expect? What impact will Windows 7 have on the industry? Are we still going to be using .NET (3.5?) to program Windows? Where does 64-bit figure in all this?
We'll definitely be able to use Java for 64-bit stuff, but how is Microsoft going to have us making native 64-bit Windows applications?
.NET Framework has supported native 64 bit JIT for a long time. You can take advantage of it just by running your .NET binaries on an x64 system (unless they are explicitly marked as x86 only).
Call me old-fashioned, but I'll still be using C/C++ to make both 32-bit and 64-bit applications, just as I have been for years. Windows 7 won't make a big difference to that.
IMO, Windows 7 is a better OS than Vista - a much better user experience; but from a coding perspective I'm not sure it will make a big difference.
A better question would probably be related to (for example) the impact of .NET 4.0, Visual Studio 2010 or Silverlight 3.0. And in answer; .NET 4.0 introduces much better (read: easier) support for multi-core programming. This is a big help, given the CPU changes.
I'll continue to write Windows 7 applications in C. Microsoft has supported 64-bit applications in the SDK for more than five years now.
For Windows-programming, you will still use .NET without any notifiable difference (maybe you will design your user interface a little different to blend into Windows 7). Windows 7 supports XP and Vista mode quite good, so your MFC/ATL/whatever C++ applications should still work, but there's not really any reason to create GUI applications in C++ anymore :)
So, in short, you won't really feel any difference..