“Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to delay the consumer launch of its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system to January 2007 from its earlier target of the second half of 2006, sending its shares down nearly 3 percent,” Reuters reports. “Microsoft plans to launch a product for corporate customers in November and then roll out Windows Vista for consumers after the holiday shopping season, Jim Allchin, co-president of the company’s Platforms & Services Division, said on a conference call.”
“Microsoft said Vista is delayed because it wants to improve overall quality, particularly in security, and that PC makers didn’t want the operating system introduced in the middle of holiday sales, because a new version would create instability in the market,” Reuters reports.
Full article here.
“‘It’s not the optimal situation, to be launching the next-generation version of Windows right after the big holiday sales season,’ said analyst Joe Wilcox with Jupiter Research,” Alison Linn reports for The Associated Press. “A spokesman for Dell Inc. declined to comment on how the delay might affect sales. In a statement released by Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard Co. said it supported Microsoft’s decision to make quality a priority in scheduling the operating system’s release. Microsoft will release some versions of the new operating system for big businesses in November as planned, but the consumer version will be postponed until January, said Jim Allchin, co-president of the Microsoft division that includes Windows.”
Linn reports, “Wilcox said releasing the system in November to businesses would likely help Microsoft — since its business sales are highly profitable — while the delay in the consumer release would be most harmful to its partners. ‘You can play semantics and say that the operating system is shipping in 2006, but if consumers can’t buy it until 2007, PC manufacturers don’t have it to sell to them,’ Wilcox said. ‘This blow falls on the partners.’ …Analyst Matt Rosoff with independent research firm Directions on Microsoft said he suspects computer makers are likely displeased with the situation, but with Microsoft’s stranglehold on the operating system market they have little control over it. ‘Certainly PC makers aren’t going to be happy about it, but I don’t know exactly what they’re going to do. They’ll wait,’ he said. ‘There’s not a whole lot of choice at this point.'”
Full article here.
“Considering the amount of resources being thrown at the Vista project, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer now face unyielding embarrassment. How could things go so wrong this late in the process? For years, Microsoft fought to shed a reputation for being perennially late shipping big projects like Windows and Windows NT. Tuesday’s announcement only makes those questions front and center again,” Charles Cooper writes for CNET News. “Microsoft is downplaying suggestions that today’s news suggests anything fundamentally wrong with the company’s internal processes. Still, you have to ask whether the company has grown so large that its ability to undertake a project this complex is inevitably going to be hampered by its own bureaucratic sloth.”
“Recall that last year Microsoft dropped several important features in order to not slow down the shipment plans. Microsoft even removed WinFS, a key piece of Longhorn, so that PC makers could plan around a holiday release… [now] Vista will miss the entire ’06 holiday shopping season… Time was when Microsoft could get away with a product slip, shrug its shoulders and promise a ‘new and improved’ version sometime soon… [but] 2006 is not 1996, and Microsoft’s customers have other alternatives,” Cooper writes.
Full article here.
“Now that Windows Vista has been delayed, it’s time to ask a once-unthinkable question: Can the Macintosh finally take back business from Microsoft? [Today’s news] may hold at least a glimmer of hope for those Mac faithful who have dared dream of a day when Apple could again reign supreme in the world of personal computing. And they are not shy to point out that Apple has released many new features and upgrades in the years that Microsoft has worked on an operating system that has yet to see the light of day. If nothing else, momentum certainly seems to be on Apple’s side,” Mike Yamamoto blogs for CNET.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft still can’t get Windows XP SP3, er, Vista, out the door? And, what haven’t they cut out of the list of promised “innovations?” There’s nothing left on the list that they can junk in order to ship the thing. This company has gone from joke to sad even faster than we thought possible.
Come one, come all! Witness the decline of a never great OS maker! How badly do you have to go today?! “Windows ME 2: The Sequel” – coming to a dull box near you, January 2007 (maybe). Soundtrack by Paul Simon.
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…and, of course, there’s a lot of time left to announce further delays. Couldn’t happen to a worse bunch of ‘putin’ pissers.
Shocker!
Gosh, is everyone else asleep?
Yea, well, Apple’s share price dropped over 3% today as well. On top of a few % yesterday and last week.
At least MS’ stock has been trading at consistent levels over the past few months… Apple’s has dropped significantly – about 30% isn’t it since the start of the year? That hurts for sure.
As for the delay, well, hands up who thought it was going to be delivered on time anyway?
I swear, MS had no freakin’ intention to release Windows Vista at the time they said it would – they basically give some crap date which is totally unrealistic, just so they’re still in people’s minds. If they said that their software was going to be ready in say 5 years, do you think people would be hanging around waiting? (presuming they don’t add a 25% fudge factor anyway) I think not. This way (aka the bulls*** way) they’re ensuring that they don’t lose out to Linux and Mac, coz they’re making everyone think that their new OS is “just around the corner”.
$#@!wits.
enjoy your dust diet
mdn mw: press (it really is magic)
If Microsoft works anything like the high-tech companies that I’ve worked for, their upper management actually believes that if you pull a date out of the air and publish it, then your programmers will meet it. Software schedules in the industry bear no resemblance to reality! And then when the staff doesn’t hit the mark (because there was never any way that they could), the company slips the date–again and again and again.
It makes you wonder–if they can’t select a date correctly, how can they be trusted to produce a software product that works correctly.
I like the picture that is in the linked article. It’s Billy G. and Steve Ball-mer pointing off into the distance. Uh, like WAY OFF into the distance. “Look Steve, I think I see the arrival of Vista!” “No Bill, that’s just a big pile of shit in the distance.” “Yes Steve, that’s what I said.”
This would be an ideal time for Apple to license OS-X.
I know that Apple is “a hardware-first company” concerned with delivering “the whole widget”. That’s fine. But if Apple wants to truly rid the world of MS, they need to fire this silver bullet.
ummm.. have you looked at apples shares compared to micronuts?
!
mdn mw: expected
how does it do that????
Thats a shame. I was really looking forward to having all those different versions of Windows – that are the same – but different – to play with for Christmas.
You all get it wrong. Apple moved its WWDC to August so that Microsoft could not have enought time to copy the new OS features in Vista. Now Microsoft decided to retaliate moving the launch date of Vista to January.
Its that simple.
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“At least MS’ stock has been trading at consistent levels over the past few months… “
Yeah it’s been consistent all right, consistently flat. Microsoft’s stock has absolutely flat lined over the last 5 years as a matter of fact. Meanwhile, Apple stock is up 600% during the same time period.
May be MS is planning to steal thunder from Apple at CE show, a week before MacWorld, when MS expect Apple will show off OSX 10.5.
Just think, a blue screen of death as Bill Gate demo Vista on stage at CE (actually, they may have learned from their previous mistake and decide to show video tape instead. Then again, may be they learned from their previous mistake and show nothing).
Cynic, my ill-informed amiga, overlay msft and aapl on a 5 (or 4,3,2,1) year trend.
Rumour has it that they will indeed make it by january 2007. One feature cut so they can make this deadline is removing the “Next” button. Back and Cancel buttons are on track for inclusion.
Ok, so introducing a new product during the biggest sales quarter of the year (i.e.; christmahannukwanzica) is not a good thing? It would create instability in the Market???. (translation: your PC will become unstable)
So, then after Jan 1st comes Feb 14th. Valentines day, PC makers wouldn’t want to spoil the love by having MS introduce Vista then.
Ok, so next is St. Patricks day on 3/17. Hmm. bad Idea. ’nuff said. No Vista rollout then.
How about Easter? Instead of Jesus rising from the dead, we could have the new Vista OS retail box sliding the tomb open at jerusalem…. no, let’s not try to make Vista bigger than god… didn’t work for John Lennon, probably won’t work for Vista…. delay some more.
and on & on go the delays….
Directly after the release of Vista (if it ever comes), of course the most hurt will be on the companies like Dell and HP who rely on Microsoft to deliver. Also, people may just feel no motivation to update their OS because they don’t see it as useful.
But in the far away future, this will severely hurt Microsoft – take my word for it. If Microsoft has a biggest weakness, it’s the fact that they can’t afford to piss people off – they rely on other companies to properly distribute their software. Without companies like Dell and HP, Microsoft is nothing.
MS better watch out in the future because what they’re doing right now is screwing over the companies that are keeping them alive and profitable. HP is already pretty cozy with Linux and Dell is showing its “rebellion” from MS by pre-installing Google Desktop and other software on their computers, which take Microsoft’s thunder since they provide the features that Vista once promised.
Mikkie: “If Microsoft works anything like the high-tech companies that I’ve worked for, their upper management actually believes that if you pull a date out of the air and publish it, then your programmers will meet it.”
Having also worked in the high-tech industry I can conffirm that you have hit the proverbial nail right on its proverbial head! I tell all my friends that Dilbert is the absolute truth, no exaggeration!
Vista will be your master!
Perhaps next year sometime.
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Meanwhile Apple rules this holiday season!!
Of course Microsoft will spread some FUD so people will wait a few more months.
this is Apple’s chance to license MacOS X.
May be MS is planning to steal thunder from Apple at CE show, a week before MacWorld, when MS expect Apple will show off OSX 10.5.
I seem to recall reading hear and elsewhere that MacWorld and CES will be the same week next January. Interesting.
Still, missing all those holiday sales may indicate a method to their madness. Sell everyone a new computer for the holidays, then charge them to upgrade to Vista. or maybe enough people will hold off that new computer until 2007, and the hardware makers have a poor 4th quarter in calendar 2006.
Any way you slice it, people are going to get hurt.
If Apple can announce in 2006 it will be a great opportunity for them.
that doesn’t sound like the macDude I know.
HAAA HAA!
No way! Windows Vapor – err, Vista – isn’t going to ship on time? Whodathunk?
I thought this quote was funny: “…would create instability in the market.”
Why not? Instability is what they’re good at!