Microsoft delays launch of Windows Vista
Microsoft said on Tuesday it plans to delay the launch of its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system to January 2007 from its earlier target of the second half of 2006, sending its shares down nearly 3 percent.
According to Reuters, Microsoft plans to launch a product for corporate customers in November and then roll out Windows Vista for consumers after the holiday shopping season.
January 2007 is about the same time Apple Computer
has said its next-generation Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" operating system would be released to the public. The tight-lipped company has so far kept all of Leopard's details under wraps.
Reuters reports that Microsoft said Vista is delayed because the company wants to improve overall quality, particularly in security. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant also said that PC makers didn't want the operating system introduced in the middle of holiday sales, because a new version would create instability in the market.
Microsoft is reportedly planning six core offerings of the Vista operating system, targeting how people use computers instead of PC hardware specifications.
Three will be aimed at consumers, two at business users, and a stripped-down version for emerging markets, Reuters said. "Unlike the current Windows XP, there will be no versions designed specifically for advanced 64-bit computing, multimedia computers or Tablet PCs."
Shares of Microsoft fell 2.6 percent to $27.02 in extended trade. In regular Nasdaq trade, the stock fell 15 cents, or less than 1 percent, to close at $27.74.
According to Reuters, Microsoft plans to launch a product for corporate customers in November and then roll out Windows Vista for consumers after the holiday shopping season.
January 2007 is about the same time Apple Computer
has said its next-generation Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" operating system would be released to the public. The tight-lipped company has so far kept all of Leopard's details under wraps.
Reuters reports that Microsoft said Vista is delayed because the company wants to improve overall quality, particularly in security. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant also said that PC makers didn't want the operating system introduced in the middle of holiday sales, because a new version would create instability in the market.
Microsoft is reportedly planning six core offerings of the Vista operating system, targeting how people use computers instead of PC hardware specifications.
Three will be aimed at consumers, two at business users, and a stripped-down version for emerging markets, Reuters said. "Unlike the current Windows XP, there will be no versions designed specifically for advanced 64-bit computing, multimedia computers or Tablet PCs."
Shares of Microsoft fell 2.6 percent to $27.02 in extended trade. In regular Nasdaq trade, the stock fell 15 cents, or less than 1 percent, to close at $27.74.
Comments
Pop open the corks on the bottles of "I-told-you-so!"
Originally posted by cali4nr
Apparently Mr. Gates is waiting for dual-boot Macs so he can copy leopard
That reminds me of a great conspiracy theory I saw a while back:
The reason OS X has been so unsettled, UI wise, as of late, is that Jobs is deliberately sending mixed messages to Redmond. So that Bill will be all like "Should we copy the look of Mail? Garage Band? Aperture? Aqua? Brushed metal? Neutral grey? Unified menu bar, or no?" and so forth.
Then, when Vista is a lock, Steve can trot out Leopard with the "real" unified OS X UI, and laugh heartily at Vista's garbled look and feel.
So maybe this is Bill playing chicken with Steve-- "We can wait as long as we need to, just show us what you've got".
1. Wait for latest release of Mac OS.
2. Blatantly steal as many elements from Mac OS as possible, without getting sued.
3. If sued, then negotiate out-of-court settlement for cash only. Do not give up any use of stolen Mac OS elements.
4. Design new Windows OS to poorly interact with older versions of Windows and to cripple older hardware. This keeps Windows users on their forced upgrade cycle.
5. Do not fix long-standing bugs. Rather, add new features whether necessary or not. Bloat is good.
6. Repackage software with new name, and charge more for the upgrade.
7. Add a few viruses to the install disks just for fun.
8. Line pockets, and repeat.
GTSC
Originally posted by Gandalf the Semi-Coherent
Official Microsoft Guide to Windows Updates?:
1. Wait for latest release of Mac OS.
2. Blatantly steal as many elements from Mac OS as possible, without getting sued.
3. If sued, then negotiate out-of-court settlement for cash only. Do not give up any use of stolen Mac OS elements.
4. Design new Windows OS to poorly interact with older versions of Windows and to cripple older hardware. This keeps Windows users on their forced upgrade cycle.
5. Do not fix long-standing bugs. Rather, add new features whether necessary or not. Bloat is good.
6. Repackage software with new name, and charge more for the upgrade.
7. Add a few viruses to the install disks just for fun.
8. Line pockets, and repeat.
GTSC
Actually, this sounds more like Apple's policy... especially the "forced upgrade cycle", "long-standing bugs", "repackage software with new name and charge for the upgrade"
Originally posted by MacGregor
I wonder if Leopard and PS3 can both ship before Christmas and force MS and Dell to page 17 news, next to updates on Icelandic soccer leagues.
You're being blatantly unfair to the Icelandic Soccer Leagues.
If you read through this collection of links, you can see that the chain retailers & front-line PC makers are kind of crapping their pants over this.
Steve Jobs, meanwhile, is doing a little jig.
By Yardena Arar, PC World.com
Microsoft?s decision to delay the consumer versions of Windows Vista until early 2007 could encourage some holiday computer buyers to get Macs instead, industry analysts say.
?This gives Apple the biggest competitive advantage they?ve had in history from Microsoft,? veteran technology consultant Rob Enderle, founder of the Enderle Group, said of the delay announced earlier Tuesday by Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft?s Platform and Services Division.
Allchin told a hastily convened teleconference that Microsoft would release volume-licensed versions of Vista by year?s end, as previously announced, but that consumer versions ? including those preloaded on new PCs ? would not be available until January 2007.
Allchin said that Microsoft was not worried about competition from Apple, but Enderle said that Microsoft may be underestimating Apple?s potential, especially since the company is expected to introduce some appealing new products in time for the holiday season.
?I don?t think anybody over there is really taking the Apple stuff seriously,? Enderle said. ?That?s a mistake.?
IDC analyst Bob O?Donnell agreed that a Vista-less holiday season would benefit Apple. But he added, ?You have to keep it in perspective. Even if they [Apple] gain a full percentage point of market share because of this, that still only moves them to three-and-a-half, four-and-a-half percent market share.?
Vista for Nonexistent Buyers
Both Enderle and O?Donnell said that it was ironic that Microsoft is making Vista available in late 2006 to volume licensing customers, since these are typically large corporations that may not migrate to Vista until 2007 or 2008 anyway. Corporate IT departments wouldn?t have budgeted for a 2006 deployment, Enderle said.
O?Donnell speculated that announcing the volume-license availability in 2006 was a face-saving ploy that allowed Microsoft to say that it was meeting its earlier commitments to deliver Vista by year?s end.
But the holiday season is by far the biggest technology-buying quarter of the year for consumers, and O?Donnell said that Vista?s delay is bad news for PC vendors who were counting on the new OS to boost holiday sales. ?They?re going to have to do something ? maybe a free coupon for an upgrade to Vista or something like that ? to lessen the blow,? he said.
Major vendors had no immediate word on any such plans ? or for the matter, on the impact of Vista?s delay. ?We don?t speculate on financial performance,? Dell spokesperson Tom Kehoe said. ?As a company we remain ready to ship Vista when it?s available and are excited to do so.?
?HP does not publicly disclose details about unannounced products or the terms of our partner agreements,? spokesperson Melissa Stone said in an e-mail statement. ?HP continues plans to support Microsoft?s upcoming Windows Vista operating system across the company?s consumer and business product lines.?
Allchin said that Microsoft decided to delay release of consumer versions of Vista in order to meet industry demands for a firm product roadmap and to keep the playing field level for all of its PC manufacturing customers, but he did not elaborate.
Enderle said that he believes Microsoft could have made the consumer versions of Vista the direct vendors to direct-market vendors like Dell in late 2006 but decided not to do so because this would have given Dell an unfair advantage over competitors such as Hewlett-Packard, which need more time to get Vista PCs into retail stores.