by Playfuls Staff |
25th May 2006
Although Bill Gates launched at WinHEC the Beta 2 versions of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer indicated that the launch date of Windows Vista could slip beyond the planned January 2007 release. [more]
Initially, Microsoft indented to launch Windows Vista at the end of November this year, but in March the company officially said that it wouldn't get broad release until January 2007.
Speaking at a press conference, Steve Ballmer said that Microsoft is till thinking about the release date. "We think we are on track for shipping early in the year. We've talked about the month, but we get a chance to critically assess all of the feedback we'll get from this beta release then confirm or move [the launch date] a few weeks,", Ballmer said quoted by press agencies.
In March, Microsoft said it will still introduce the corporate version of Windows Vista in November, but that it was forced to delay the consumer versions as it sought to balance security needs with ease of use.
Also Microsoft said, in March, that the Vista launch was delayed for the benefit of computer makers, retailers and other partners. But analysts and others immediately challenged that assessment.
Steve Ballmer confirmed once again this reason of delay. "The other thing, frankly, which we are discussing with NEC and other hardware partners is when would they really like it -- early January, late January, February -- so it depends on when the next roll-over, the next turn of the machine cycle will be and that would be the best time to ship it based on beta feedback," he said.
At the beginning of May, Gartner said in a research note, published on its site, that the next major OS from Microsoft, Windows Vista, it won’t be largely available until May or June 2007. According to the note on the site, Gartner said that by analyzing the development timeline for other versions of Windows, Windows Vista won’t be available until 9 to 12 months after Beta 2 version.
