“Microsoft Corp.’s customers will never again face as long a wait between new versions of Windows software as they’re enduring now, chief executive Steve Ballmer vowed Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chairman Bill Gates said the company’s much-delayed Vista operating system is likely — but not guaranteed — to reach the market by January,” Mark Jewell reports for The Associated Press.
“The comments in separate speeches by Microsoft’s two top executives came nearly two weeks after the Redmond, Wash.-based company announced a postponement for its Office business software suite, and nearly four months after a similar postponement for Vista,” Jewell reports.
“‘I think it’s probably important for me to tell our partners that, rest assured, we will never have a gap between Windows releases as long as the one between XP and Windows Vista,’ Ballmer told thousands of Microsoft product resellers and other clients at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Boston. ‘Count on it,’ Ballmer said. ‘I can go through the history of how we got through here, but just count on it. We will never have this kind of gap again,'” Jewell reports.
“In Cape Town, South Africa, Gates said there was an 80 per cent chance that Vista would be ready in January,” Jewell reports. “However, Gates, the company’s co-founder and chairman, said at a presentation to Microsoft software partners that he would delay the launch if testing uncovered shortcomings in prerelease, or beta, versions of the program.”
“Ted Schadler, an analyst from Forrester Research, said Ballmer was “selling hard” in pledging shorter wait times for future versions of Windows,” Jewell reports. “Schadler said Microsoft could make good on Ballmer’s pledge to shorten new Windows version wait times by making more incremental improvements than the company has promised in Vista. ‘This time they really shot for the moon,’ Schadler said.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: They obviously missed the moon. Windows Vista is so stripped-down, it’s a joke. Windows Vista is Windows XP SP3 (code name: PigLipstick). Or “Windows Me Too,” as we sometimes like to call it. It’s all very easy for Gates to make pledges with one foot out the door and for Ballmer, too, as – mark our words – he’ll be long gone if and when Microsoft inflicts the next “major” Windows release after Vista.
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interesting that he is making vows about the next next version of windows 6 or more months before the next version ships. Appalling, really.
I thinks it is quite remarkable that M$ hasn’t lost more market share. . . I mean really, it’s not that Apple is so good, (I would expect the things I can do with my Mac to be available in the year 2006), it’s that microsoft is so BAD. Apple is basically doing “it’s job,” and looks fantastic, because Redmond has f’d up to such a degree.
No more delays now that the chief software architect has got his backside fired.
Effectively Balmer is laying the blame on Gates for all the delays.
No more gates = no more delays.
Looks like Bill’s the whiping boy and he hasn’t even stepped out the door yet!
>LIER LIER YOUR SWEATY ASS IS ON FIRE, MONKEYBOY UNCLE FESTER LOOKALIKE>
Another California graduate. L–I–A–R
My point is that bashing MS for any reason on this site is preaching to the converted. Why so much interest in how badly MS is performing? It will not make a lot of difference in the big scheme.
I completely forgot about Winblows Pista because I spent all day downloading my 18 patches for XP. It really wasn’t so bad, only five of the patches were critical. The Lemmings never cease to amaze me. I only wish I had enough boxes and dog $h1t so that I could be competing with XP.
I suspect the only way the next generation Windows will NOT take longer to gestate will require Microsoft to adopt a “clean sheet of paper” approach. The legacy that is the mountains of old code that few really understand, the paradigms that should have been abandoned long ago (C:\ anyone?), the ongoing requirement that everything old is still to be supported, is a crushing legacy.
As Apple did when it migrated to a UNIX base foundation, Microsoft needs to break the legacy shackles and start over. Maybe Singularity will be the base, maybe something none of us will have heard of. I say this not because I want Microsoft to succeed, but because their failure to deliver quality product is hurting those using their stuff.
As an aside, were Microsoft to do the honorable thing (yeah, and pigs fly), it would credit the payments received under Software Assurance during which time they delivered, essentially, nothing.
While vista drags on and on, my windows friends are taking advantage of the boot camp revolution. I just switched my 11th friend today, she bought a 17 imac from the anaheim store, and got the free ipod and hp printer to boot. We set her up and she’s happy as can be.
Funny thing is, while we were waiting for her software updates to finish downloading, a 12th friend called me about buying an imac for his cousin in africa. He’s taking over a complete video editing suite and wants it user friendly.
We’re purchasing a 20″ imac for him, and a second 20″ imac for his cousin tonight.
Most want windows just because of Outlook. We run bootcamp simply for that.
Amazing.
13 and counting in the last 3 months.
Thomas,
You may be right, and yes a lot of us
do spend a bit of time “preaching” in
vain. Perhaps it will not make a big
difference in the scheme of things,
but 10% marketshare would be nice.
You said 90% of your peers are happy
with a Win machine. Apple wants the
other 10%
set sail
Once upon a time, there lived a fat man in Redmond, Washington who had a tendency to stretch the truth. Okay, sometimes he would flat out lie or “cry wolf”. All of the people in the town got sick of the fat man and his sweaty towel, and especially his fibbing. One day the fat, sweaty man screamed “Wait, people. I promise never to be late with a product again!”, but the people just laughed or ignored him, and walked away. While elsewhere in the town, the people gathered to listen to a new man, a great man, with great vision, and he gave the people what they wanted when they wanted it. Every once in a while, he even gave them a bit more than they expected, and this was refreshing. The people in the town forgot about old, fat, sweaty man and embraced the ideas and products of the new man, and everyone lived happily ever after.
©2006 rstrb8r@gmail.com. All Rights Reserved.
Ballmer’s strained admission of failure seems to indicate that he is begging PC users not to switch to Mac.
PC user: You’ve been humping that whore of an excuse for how long?
Ballmer: I’m sorry, baby. She don’t mean nothin’ to me, honest.
PC user: What about all your promises, huh?
Ballmer: I’ll be better, sugar, you’ll see.
PC user: I just can’t trust you anymore.
Ballmer: C’mon, baby. I love you. I’ll give you free upgrades.
PC user: I don’t know.
Ballmer: It won’t happen ever again, I mean it.
Nice, rasterbator! Was that from a dream?
BTW, IAFOOMCLSHWIRTAT!
Please tell me how in the HELL MS is going to release Vista for coporations in Dec. and will not to customers until Jan…..nope Mar….nope…or whenever!?…totally BS!!!
There will never be another Windows new version, only SPs that will not be called service packs. They’ll come with some fancy name, throw in one or two new features (copied from OS X) and sell it like “Hey! This is the new Windows! It rocks! You must have it!”.
But it won’t really be a new Windows. Funny thing is that with so much manpower and cash in the bank they can’t make a fresh OS from the ground up, this is simply unbelievable.
Yeah, Right!
And all is well in Iraq too.
Just saying it – doesn’t make it so.
“SPs that will not be called service packs”
Actually, they will be called cervix packs. A little more honest description of how much the user is screwed. And a possible new revenue stream for MS.
whomever:
I agree! When was the last time M$ came up with something new and original on their own?
(tick tock tick tock tick tock)
Can’t build it… beg, borrow, buy, or outright steal it. That is the foundation for Longhorn/Vista/XP-SP2.5
MDN: What, no mugshot of Uncle Fester to go with the story? I’m disappointed.
MDN: What, no mugshot of Uncle Fester to go with the story? I’m disappointed.
Raymond from DC –
.. “As Apple did when it migrated to a UNIX base foundation, Microsoft needs to break the legacy shackles and start over.”
That is what MS tried to do with Longhorn, the user based balked, it would have required repurchasing the software they already had. MS caved. Most PC uesrs will simply live with it. They can be more zealous than Mac users, that is the only way i can explain paying for protection software from the company that caused the problems to begin with. I think they wear it like a badge.
“Microsoft Corp.’s customers will never again face as long a wait between new versions of Windows”
In other words, never again go so long without charging you upgrade fees.
How about making a promise that counts like. . .
“Microsoft Corp.’s customers will never again be sold an OS that is second best in quality and reliability!”
MW – “indeed”
Joke.
The guy is a joke.
Well, a guess a bad joke.
When will this train wreck of a “CEO” end?
YET ANOTHER OFFICEMAC SECURITY UPDATE!!!
See you stupid OfficeMac using FOOLS!!! you just can’t use anything from M$.
They always leave holes, ALWAYS!! Meaning your machine gets compromised.
It’s just the Microsoft way, insecurity by design, neglect and stupidity
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/autoupdate/description/auoffice20041125en.htm
PigLipstick
LOL
Confirmed: Woodcrest to power new Apple Mac PRO!
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1877
“‘This time they really shot for the moon,'”
The only “moon” I hope Balmer sees is Steve Jobs butt pressed to the window of his Cupertino office as Billy & Balmer walk by.