Next operating system won't reach consumers until January 2007
Microsoft has delayed the release of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system until January 2007.
The application will be made available to enterprises in November this year.
Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin in a conference call said that the company decided to push back the release date of the consumer version of the operating system because computer manufacturers required more time to test and prepare their systems.
Microsoft was confronted by quality issues that caused the release to be pushed back "a few weeks". This prompted manufacturers to ask the software vendor to delay the consumer to 2007 because they had insufficient time to test and prepare their systems for availability this calendar year.
"Quality is the top line message. We needed just a few more weeks," Allchin said. "We'll release to manufacturing and we'll sit on the disk for the consumer launch."
Windows Vista was originally promised for the second half of 2006.
Delays have plagued the operating system throughout its development. The software was originally planned as an upgrade to Windows XP and was expected to come out in 2003. Development however was delayed after Microsoft decided to add features and pulled developers off the project to work on the security oriented Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP.
The decision to delay the release of the consumer version of Windows Vista will cause the software to miss the 2006 holiday shopping season. That could have a negative impact on PCs sales for this year, analyst firm Gartner warned earlier this month.
"No matter how I look at it, the news is a blow to many Microsoft partners. They won't have Windows Vista to sell during the lucrative holiday sales season, " noted Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research on a company blog.
"I can't imagine why any PC manufacturer wouldn't want to have Windows Vista systems to sell for the holidays. For if nothing else, they lose the benefit of massive Windows marketing, let alone a brand, new operating system to dress up PCs."
Windows Vista is currently in beta and has been made available to a limited group of testers. The application has been feature complexe as of the last beta release. The next test version is slated for the second quarter of this year and will be available to a broader group of testers.
Microsoft has delayed the release of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system until January 2007.
The application will be made available to enterprises in November this year.
Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin in a conference call said that the company decided to push back the release date of the consumer version of the operating system because computer manufacturers required more time to test and prepare their systems.
Microsoft was confronted by quality issues that caused the release to be pushed back "a few weeks". This prompted manufacturers to ask the software vendor to delay the consumer to 2007 because they had insufficient time to test and prepare their systems for availability this calendar year.
"Quality is the top line message. We needed just a few more weeks," Allchin said. "We'll release to manufacturing and we'll sit on the disk for the consumer launch."
Windows Vista was originally promised for the second half of 2006.
Delays have plagued the operating system throughout its development. The software was originally planned as an upgrade to Windows XP and was expected to come out in 2003. Development however was delayed after Microsoft decided to add features and pulled developers off the project to work on the security oriented Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP.
The decision to delay the release of the consumer version of Windows Vista will cause the software to miss the 2006 holiday shopping season. That could have a negative impact on PCs sales for this year, analyst firm Gartner warned earlier this month.
"No matter how I look at it, the news is a blow to many Microsoft partners. They won't have Windows Vista to sell during the lucrative holiday sales season, " noted Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research on a company blog.
"I can't imagine why any PC manufacturer wouldn't want to have Windows Vista systems to sell for the holidays. For if nothing else, they lose the benefit of massive Windows marketing, let alone a brand, new operating system to dress up PCs."
Windows Vista is currently in beta and has been made available to a limited group of testers. The application has been feature complexe as of the last beta release. The next test version is slated for the second quarter of this year and will be available to a broader group of testers.
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