Exclusive: Microsoft Delays Vista Beta 2 to Late May, RTM to October 25, 2006

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it wouldn't be able to deliver
Windows Vista in time for the 2006 holiday sales season. My sources now
tell me that the company plans a release to manufacturing (RTM) for
Vista on or before October 25, 2006, approximately two months later
than the previous shipment schedule. And the company has delayed the
next major Vista milestone, the Beta 2 release, from April to late May
2006.

The official announcement contains none of these details. In its
statement, Microsoft said simply that it would ship the volume-
licensed, business-oriented versions of Vista in November 2006 and the
consumer-oriented versions in January 2007. The company curiously
blamed this latest delay on its computer industry partners. "Product
quality and a great out-of-box experience have been two of our key
drivers for Windows Vista, and we are on track to deliver on both," Co-
President of Platform Products and Services Jim Allchin says in the
statement. "But the industry requires greater lead time to deliver
Windows Vista on new PCs during [the] holiday[s]. We must optimize for
the industry, so we've decided to separate business and consumer
availability."

Additionally, there is a new Vista roadmap. The Beta 2 release,
previously scheduled for April, has been delayed until late May.
Vista, formerly code-named Longhorn, has been delayed repeatedly
in the past few years. The Windows XP successor was originally
expected to ship in 2003.

End of Article

in what way is reporting news 2 hours after everyone else "exclusive" ?

jbobb March 21, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

Oh Sh*t.Delaying Vista means people like me will expect more and more of the OS that before. So many people could be dissapointed with the final release.(Just hope that there won't be even more delays)

ki829 March 21, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

From Paul's Internet-Nexus (I think this is why it's an exclusive):
"Everyone's covering the news, but I'm pretty sure this is the only article that published the new RTM date."

Jason Cox March 21, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

Paul is always the first to know and everyone else rips he's stories off him. Just ask him. He'll tell you.

nportors March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

not at all unexpected. after all it's not like vista could be on time at this point.

guruguru March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

As the fifth anniversary of OS X approaches this Friday, it's insanely hilarious that Microsoft lacks the engineering prowess to get one OS out the door. This should really give business and home customers a negative impression of Microsoft as nincompoops who don't know what they're doing.

I predicted Vista (then Longhorn) would be delayed to early 2007 over 12 months ago, and people here on this site called me names and mocked me and took Microsoft's MSDN marketing brochures as the word of gospel. Well, here we are, eh?

The worst part is when Vista finally comes out and just barely achieves the level where OS X was in April of last year, OS X 10.5 will already be coming out to leapfrog Microsoft again and provide them with new features to clone for the next version of Windows.

bonch March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

Yes, it is true that "the Windows XP successor [Longhorn] was originally expected to ship sometime in 2003."

However that was when Longhorn was a minor release (5.x) and Blackcomb was the next "major" (6.0) release. Longhorn essentially became Blackcomb, so it's a bit skewed to assume it's 3-4 years late.

That is to say, the Vista that will ship is nothing like the Longhorn that would've shipped in 2003. That Longhorn would've been pretty close to a XP SP3, whereas Blackcomb would've been what we're seeing today.

That said, it would've been better if Longhorn would NOT have invaded Blackcomb's territory. They should've had something released in the meantime.

PatriotB6007 March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

I'm sure that "insane hilarity" does quite accurately describe the feeling of Mac Addicts.

Thanks for the insight bonch.

tom275 March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

"As the fifth anniversary of OS X approaches this Friday, it's insanely hilarious that Microsoft lacks the engineering prowess to get one OS out the door"

If Microsoft released Windows like Apple did OSX, we'd get a new version of Windows every time a service pack came out or when WMP was updated, honestly I'd prefer to wait for a few years inbetween releases instead of getting the exact same OS that I already have with a few extra features added like Apple does.

Jason Cox March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

Something is unclear to me: does this mean that the consumer versions will be done by the mentioned RTM date, too, and that only for logistical reasons they won't be available (mostly in new machines) until January, or are we looking at two different RTM dates?

I ask because I thought the product was on one code base, so the business and consumer versions would by definition RTM simultaneously.

bjf2000 March 22, 2006 (Article Rating:

)

See More Comments 1 2 3 4 5 6

You must log on before posting a comment.

If you don't have a username & password, please register now.