Windows Vista Delayed to 2007
A new “Road Map” for Windows Vista admits it will be delayed beyond the Christmas and holidays period for 2006.
A press release from Redmond buries the news under the laughable phrase: “Microsoft is on track to complete the product this year, with business availability in November 2006″, but follows that with: “… and broad consumer availability in January 2007″.
“REDMOND, Wash. — March 21, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today confirmed that Windows Vista, the next generation of the Windows client operating system, is on target to go into broad consumer beta to approximately 2 million users in the second quarter of 2006. Microsoft is on track to complete the product this year, with business availability in November 2006 and broad consumer availability in January 2007.”
A product due for 2003 is now “promised” for 2007. A complete product cycle has been missed.
That’s a huge disaster for computer manufacturers and retailers who will have to sell XP machines just a month or so before Vista becomes “broadly available”.
Mini-Microsoft weighs in with: “Fire the leadership now.”
It certainly sounded like Microsoft leadership committed to us, our customers, our partners, and our shareholders that Vista would be out in 2006.
Slip!
… I was upset at missing the back-to-school market. Now we’re missing the holiday sales market. All of those laptops and PCs are going to have XP on it.
This is truly dreadful, and what awful spin in the presentation. Robert Scoble is rather sheepish too. I hesitate to link to him: the poor chap is having a nervous breakdown. And who can wonder? Nevertheless, here’s the link.
I’m not having a nervous breakdown. Thanks for totally taking what I’ve been writing out of context.
By the way, the first time I heard about Vista was in 2003. If you were expecting it in 2003 you were drinking far better Merlot than I can currently afford.
By Robert Scoble on March 22nd, 2006 at 8:47 am
Yeah, OK, but it was called Longhorn in those days. It had to be completely rewritten in 2004, hence the extended delay. Like Mini I’ve delayed replacing my main box for over a year waiting for Vista.
Merlot sounds like a good idea right now.
By John on March 22nd, 2006 at 8:55 am