“Microsoft Corp.’s long-awaited release of the upgrade to its flagship Windows operating system will likely be delayed again by at least three months, research group Gartner Inc. said on Tuesday,’ Reuters reports. “The research note, released to clients on Monday, said the new Windows Vista operating system is too complex to be able to meet Microsoft’s targeted November release for volume license customers and January launch for retail consumers.”
“Gartner targets a Windows Vista release in the April-June quarter of 2007, nine to 12 months after Microsoft conducts a second major test, or ‘beta,’ release for Vista during the current quarter. ‘Microsoft still wants to get it out as soon as possible, but slipping from January to March is nowhere near as bad as slipping from shipping before the holidays to after the holidays,’ a group of Gartner analysts wrote in the report,” Reuters reports. “A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company disagreed with the Gartner report and it was still on track to meet its launch dates.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Long-awaited? By whom, exactly, besides the Windows box assemblers? Is anybody else really waiting with bated breath for Windows XP SP3 with Microsoft’s twisted idea of what they think Mac OS X’s UI looks like? This is no longer just a “train wreck.” This is two freight trains in a head-on collision sandwiching a school bus next to a seaway while an out-of-control ocean liner plows over all three as jet planes continually dive bomb into the carnage. All the while, a strange, bald, fat monkey boy blissfully dances nearby as it all burns. Look up “implosion” and you get a satellite photo of Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, WA.
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Any bets on whether Vista will slip again?
Vista will keep slipping until there’s a shareholder revolt.
Why doesn’t MS just scrap Vista already? Even the Bad Old Apple was able to see a lost cause OS.
When you’re announcing delays a YEAR ahead of release, it’s not for some nice polishing and testing. You have big, big problems and no idea of a completion date.
But who am I to give advice. Let’s keep the Sales Guy running MS, and let MS keep throwing its resources into the Vista hole. Apple couldn’t ask for anything better.
The very definition of VAPORWARE.
not to mention it will be another year and many patches later to get Vista to be stable.
“I will laugh for you
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA….HAH!”
Bastard! hahahhaha!
People seriosly need to realize that Vista never actually existed. It was just a figment of the PC user’s imagination, subconciosly created to fill the need for an OS that doesn’t completly suck.
This reminds me of Duke Nukem Forever. Anybody remember that game? Still in development after 9 years or so.
This is horribly bad for Microsoft, very bad for PC vendors, and actually pretty bad for the economy.
This slip means that vendors for the 2006 holiday season can’t ship “Vista-Ready!” PCs. Sure, they can ship Vista ready PCs, but they can’t market the Vista-ness of them…nor could they work out a deal with MS where they ship with XP and come with a voucher for Vista when it ships.
Of course, this is all good news for Apple, but yes, the economy is going to feel this, especially the tech sector.
Well done Microsoft.
Or star craft ghost
I think that came out, but everyone forgot about it by then
At least Apple’s long-awaited OS was actually a new/different OS! Vista is just going to be a trumped-up service pack. Ouch.
“Long-awaited? By whom, exactly?” Gee, I don’t know, long awaited by about 30-100 percent of those who have Windows, MAYBE??
As much as you won’t admit it, VISTA will sell FAR more copies than OSX will ever sell.
The arrogant, self-righteous, snobbish attitudes on this board won’t change that fact.
as others have pointed out,
MDN is being hypocritical.
The applaud speculation if it’s against Microsoft, but deplore if it’s against Apple.
Maybe its all FUD. All of it.
No koolaid here–
I admit it. VISTA will sell more copies than OS X.
I still don’t think its a better OS.
Just this possibility (another delay) hurts MS. But you can’t blame anyone but MS itself.
And when you repeatedly read that MS is seriously redoing its workforce its no secret that the business is not going quite well.
I think that everybody that uses Windows (90+% of the word) hopes this huge and trusted company to deliver the goods, and by far, the best. And we (consumers) don’t have anything in our hands.
I love my Mac, but I don’t hate Microsoft or PCs. I would rather prefer more options than already exist, and if I find anything that I like more, make no mistake: I will try it, and possibly, I will buy it.
Apple knows this, and while they keep this reality between their eyes, is always possible that I keep buying excellent products from them.
Stop the hate from both sides, and keep your eyes open.
This guy says Vista will slip again and MDN believes it. Another guy says Leopard will be delivered late and MDN lambaststs the guy as being an idiot.
Hope MDN likes to eat crow.
guys, guys, guys no one has checked who’s reporting this before going on their Microsoft bash.
I found this on slashdot
“This is the same group that in 1999 reported that Linux/OSS would penetrate into the server market at most 1% and into the web server market at only 5% by 2004 (5 years). Sadly, Linux was already beating those numbers at that time.”
Then I checked on Google, and it’s right. In fact I have found a whole load of other way off predictions and crziness that had one reader quip that “they’re so wrong most of the time that you’re better off betting against them.
BTW, before you start getting into me for being a troll, I own two Macintoshes, no Windows boxes, and at work, I run Linux.
At some point Microsoft will have to accept the reality that major improvements to their (mis)operating system is impossible, given the complexity of its legacy code. It is simply beyond the capability of even the best programmers with the best tool sets and the best management to turn that sows ear into a silk purse.
The only fall back position I see for MS is what Cringley says Apple will do to run Windows applications — run another OS kernel, OS X in Apple’s case — with the Windows’ API support in the kernel. MS needs to use Linux or a version of BSD Unix for an OS. Linux running VMWARE already does this, but to get top efficiency, MS would want kernel level API support for Windows, so BSD would be a better bet for license reasons.
I will guess that Apple will eventually switch from the Mach microkernel to the FreeBSD monolithic kernel to become competitive in the server business and finish off their competitors like Dell and HP. Apple has too much on its plate now to go this route immediately, but it is a real possibility in a few years, especially with Avie “Mach Man” Tevanian gone.
I am hesitant to suggest this approach to MS (given that much of my net worth is in AAPL), but I am confident that their arrogance will preclude them from taking this path.
@ No Koolaid >
Let’s analyse a few things…
Firstly, Vista/Stillborn can hardly be described as long-awaited from the point of view of Corporate IT, especially as so many companies have failed to commit to Windows XP in the last five years, preferring the more obscure Windows 2000 which was never tainted by the compromised consumer engineering – and all of the concomitant weaknesses – of the later product.
In this particular instance, Windows Vista may well be “purchased” by millions of users – although that “purchase” will actually be the decision of some dweeb in Corporate IT and an even more anonymous dweeb in Purchasing, neither of whom have a clue of what it is to genuinely add value to a business. As a result, maybe 2,000 to 50,000 people get an operating system on their desk that they had no choice in specifying.
Of course, the funny thing is that – for the first two years or so – any machine shipped to Corporate USA, Corporate UK or even Corporate Turkmenistan will probably have Stillborn removed by the time it gets to the desktop and will land up running Windows 2000. Of course, MSFT will continue to count this as a Windows Vista sale and install and people like Rob ‘My medication no longer seems to be working’ Enderle will claim it as proof that MSFT has created a killer product.
And then there’s the private consumer!
They will get Vista by default, simply because their existing PC – which was made by throwing together the cheapest possible components – no longer works and they need a replacement. They may be comforted by MSFT’s quite frankly risible advertising trumpeting how much they care about security, but the fact is that most of them will hardly be aware of which revision of the ongoing ergonomic horror story that is Windows they are running.
This is in comparison to Leopard where approximately 12 million people – equivalent to around 6000 corporate customers – will migrate of their own free will and volition and the other eight million OS X customers will go and buy new hardware as their old G3s and G4s might be a bit creaky.
The point here is that every one of Apple’s customers has a personal commitment to the Macintosh platform, whilst maybe one in fifty Windows users (i.e. the IT professional who gets to keep a cushy job) has any real connection to the product.
Have a think about that…
The Windows folks posting about how Vista will sell more copies than OS X are, of course, right.
Of course, McDonald’s sells more burgers and happy meals than Ruth’s Chris Steak House does Filet Mignon and Garlic Mashed potatoes. More does not equal better, or even as good.
Chevy sells more Malibus than Mercedes-Benz does S-class sedans. More does not equal better, or even as good.
And Lucky/Goldstar (LG) sells more 13″ b&w kitchen tv sets than Pioneer does high-definition plasma monitors. More does not equal better, or even as good.
Oh, and Sears undoubtedly sells more Haggar nylon Sansabelt trouser sets than all the bespoke suits sold by custom tailors on London’s Savile Row combined. More does not equal better, or even as good.
You Windows folks: are you seeing a pattern here?
One can make a pretty compelling argument that greater market share almost always equates to lower quality.
The very best food, cars, televisions, clothes, and yes- computer operating systems- seem to have one thing in common: people of taste and discernment will always seek them out, while people of less refinement, education, and taste will settle for what all their friends have, and preferably whatever’s cheapest.
Frankly, I have no problem being called a “Mac snob.” My operating system IS better than that used by 90% of the computer users in the world. I am proud of that.
Facts are facts. Windows is now, always has been, and always will be a semi-Mac-like computing experience for people too lazy and ignorant to break from the herd and try something better.
I live about 30 miles from Redmond, and every once in a while, I’ll drive through the Microsoft campus and just gloat at their utter failure to produce any headway on Vista. I can tell you firsthand, the expressions and attitudes there are a far cry from the optimistic energy one senses when touring Apple’s Cupertino campus.
Why so cynical and vindictive? Because I enjoy seeing the once mighty and arrogant brought low.
I enjoy watching this slow train wreck envelop M$ and bring it down. It deserves nothing less for the years of crappy products, imperious attitude, and rapacious and illegal business dealings it has foisted on the world.
I know it will take several more years, but eventually, M$ will be nothing more than a footnote in computer history. Bet on it.
To argue otherwise is to ignore history. NO COMPANY EVER STAYS ON TOP FOREVER.
MDN Magic Word: “coming.” The day of reckoning is coming for Microsoft. Maybe not tomorrow, or the next day- but soon.
After the death of Longhorn, evisceration and delays of Vista, is it too difficult to imagine yet another round of setbacks and excuses with Micro-goof? After 5 years wait what gives any reasonable person confidence that Microsoft is able to deliver Vista on time?
Sure, eventually Microsoft is going to get it right and correctly announce the day of Vista’s commercial release, but this will more likely be due to pure chance than constructive effort. I won’t believe Vista is commercially ready until I see it on the shelf. Until then, it’s all just wishful thinking and fantasy.
I bet Aperture 2.0 ships before Vista.
So the latest operating system available from Microsoft continues to be Windows XP, until some time after Leopard ships.
Remember when the Windows idiots were comparing Tiger to Longhorn? They figured it was fair, since Longhorn was going to be shipping soon. Some people were actually claiming that Tiger “copied” features from Longhorn. That just keeps getting more awesome.
Maybe it’s time for another name change, just to keep people interested? Microsoft could change it from “Vista” to “Windows OS X” or something.
“Long-awaited? By whom, exactly?” Gee, I don’t know, long awaited by about 30-100 percent of those who have Windows, MAYBE??
As much as you won’t admit it, VISTA will sell FAR more copies than OSX will ever sell.
That last sentence may ring true, but by that time, we’ll all be running OSXI and Vista users will be too terrified to access the net with their virus infected win boxes.
Anyone using windows xp now will not upgrade to Vista. Could you imagine anyone paying $2-300 for no improvement.
This is indeed a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong wait.
Ha Ha Ha….
I know why they are delaying. Because they are waiting for Leopard to release, so that they can copy.
Microsoft, inspired by Apple.
Hey guys, you don’t seem to get the big picture. Microsoft needs to release Vista before the northern hemisphere buying season and now they will meet this deadline…it’s just the release year they got wrong. As an old editor of mine used to say “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”. How true, how true.
MDN magic word “mother” as in &@#$%^+-+=*%. That would be too crude a way to describe Microsoft wouldn’t it?
hammer “When is there going to be a Squiggy OS?
Shhhhhhhhhh… Squiggy©®℗℠™ is the code name for OS XL. Apple legal will have this site shut down if they hear about that leak!
“When you’re announcing delays a YEAR ahead of release,……
I actually had to think about that for a second before I statred laughing hyterically…..
Seriously though, I have heard that they are truly gutting Vista even more in an attempt to just get it out there. They also have to reorganize their entire ad campaign because it’s going to have a new name – Vista DOS.