Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system will now not
be generally available until next January, after the company said
it was behind schedule in tackling security and usability issues in
the system.
Microsoft Windows head Jim Allchin said, “We needed just a few
more weeks. We're trying to crank up the security level.”
As recently as January, Allchin said Microsoft was on schedule
to launch Vista this year, but he had warned that quality issues
would delay the launch if necessary.
Despite these issues, Microsoft said that business users would
have access to the new operating system from November. “Because of
the way businesses test and deploy software, it makes sense for
Microsoft volume licensing customers to receive windows Windows
Vista starting in November of this year,” the company said.
Microsoft had previously blamed the amount of time it had spent
on promoting and distributing Windows XP Service Pack 2 in 2004 and
2005 for getting behind with its Vista development.
It released the most recent test version of Vista last month,
and plans an updated test version during the next quarter, which
will be released to about two million users around the world.
As Microsoft has delayed the launch of Vista, it is not known
whether its launch plans for the next version of the Office
productivity suite will also be delayed.
Microsoft had also planned to launch Office 2007 by the end of
the year, around the same time as Vista.
The delay, announced by Microsoft yesterday, means the channel
will now not have new Vista-driven PC products for sale in time for
Christmas, a blow for resellers at the busiest time of the
year.
Microsoft has been promoting a Vista launch sometime towards the
end of this year for well over a year. Its loose scheduling
information had been partly blamed by analysts for a dip in PC
sales growth in western European markets, as users waited for a
Vista launch.
Microsoft’s decision will now put the channel in a panic as it
has to re-think its marketing strategy for the new operating
system.