A leak from Microsoft's research and development team in the US, has revealed the software giant's plans for a 128-bit architecture successor to its upcoming Windows 7 operating system, PC World magazine has reported. 64-bit computers, which can address more RAM and are theoretically more powerful than 32-bit equivalents, are likely to become more popular with Windows 7, and a 128-bit version of Windows 8 would represent the next leap in performance. According to Microsoft's plans to release a new desktop version of Windows every three years, Windows 8 is scheduled to become available in 2012.