Vista Gets Official Release Dates

SlinkySausage writes "Five years, three months and five days after Windows XP made its debut, Microsoft will usher its next-generation OS onto the stage. Microsoft has set November 30 as the release date for Vista (and Office 2007) to business customers and January 30, 2007 as the date for the official launch to consumers and The World At Large."

Comments

Re:Why is the delay such a big deal?

[Overly Critical Guy]

Microsoft, supposed to be the #1 software developer in the world, couldn't push out an update to its flagship product in less than half a decade. In that time, the industry has changed significantly. The issue involves several facets:

1. The economy relies on Microsoft's operating system, but XP was allowed to stagnate for five years with only the addition of a Security Center in SP2 and some recompiled DLLs.
2. Trust in the company. They consistently broke their promises with Longhorn. The project originally consisted of the "pillars of Longhorn"--Aero, Indigo, and WinFS. The first is shipping in less than what was promised (Microsoft once claimed it was a temporary theme and that improvements were forthcoming), and the last two were canceled.
3. The poor performance of the company since Ballmer took over. Steve Jobs once said that companies are in trouble when a marketing guy takes over, and he cited Ballmer at Microsoft as an example. Since 2001, the stock price has flatlined, and products like Office 2003 were sales bombs. XP was such a slow seller that Microsoft wouldn't release sales statistics, instead referring to the number of OEM licensees. The marketing department controls Microsoft now, leading to things like seven different versions of Vista to confuse customers.
4. Vista looks and feels like a minor improvement to XP. You illustrate the problem in your post by pointing out that you don't feel the need to upgrade. Vista is not as compelling an upgrade as it should be for something that's taken so long to be released. When you use it, you immediately get the impression that it's been cobbled together (the interface is hugely inconsistent in several places), and the product feels like something that should have been out since 2003.
5. Most importantly of all, the difficulty Microsoft experienced in updating Windows is illustrative of Windows becoming something of a swansong. The industry is shifting toward online services and digital media. In many ways, the entire Longhorn debacle lends credence to the comparisons made to IBM in its waning years.

Oldie but goodie

[Overly Critical Guy]

<C:\>ongrts.win

Re:I've been running it for years!

[Lord Kano]

There's nothing wrong with being gay!

Exactly, except for the fact that it's gay.

LK