Gartner, in a report published yesterday, is saying that Microsoft will not hit the ship dates they currently have set for Windows Vista. They are saying that in their opinion, based on past experiences with OS dates, Windows Vista is likely to need 9-12 months of work to iron out the bugs after it hits Beta2. Windows XP took 5 months from Beta2, but Gartner thinks Windows Vista being a larger change than XP will take longer to work out.
Microsoft disagrees with this assessment and believes it will hit its dates, according to this reuters report .
Microsoft did come out very early with the current delay, but I am not as pessimistic with the timing as Gartner. I do agree with one part of the report which says that the slip past the holidays of 2006 makes any other slips much easier for the industry as a whole to take.
I also agree that Windows Vista is a much larger change over XP than what Windows XP was to 2000. Not to minimize the XP release, but it certainly didn’t have Media Center, Tablet PC, a new network stack, UAC, and a number of other HUGE changes that Windows Vista is bringing to market all at the same time.
If the current beta's are any indicator of the Windows Vista Beta 2 release then I think Gartner has a very valid point and could be much closer than we now realize. However, if Windows Vista Beta2 come out and is a big step over the latest drops in terms of stability then we might be pleasantly surprised and have Microsoft hit a targeted date for once.
Posted
May 02 2006, 06:55 PM
by
Josh Phillips
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