Microsoft exec avoids confirming Vista release

We should start off by saying that this could be nothing but cautionary corporate-speak, but rather than confirming the scheduled January ship date for Windows Vista -- which is what everyone at the company's annual analyst meeting wanted to hear -- Microsoft exec Kevin Johnson seemingly opened up the door to fresh delay rumors by telling attendees that the beleaguered OS will be released "when it is available." Johnson's comments came as a response to analysts who wanted to know if Vista was still on track for a January release; instead of a simple "yes," however, he told the group that "we are going to ship the product when it is ready, and we are going to take it milestone by milestone." Now, what sounds like a non-denial of further delays could simply be part of a new policy to avoid making specific promises, but following Bill Gates's recent "statistical analysis" that Vista is only 80% likely to ship in January, this development is troubling to say the least. At this point we don't really know what to expect anymore, and since our current XP-powered setup already does everything we need it to, we're getting pretty close to not caring if Vista is ever released at all.

[sputni @ Jul 28th 2006 2:41PM]

I'll be happy to get RC1. Beta 2 is sweet but many annoying bugs.

[Davey @ Jul 28th 2006 2:44PM]

I wonder what music they're going to play at the release event. They played Rolling Stones Start Me Up" for the Windows 95 release. Maybe this time they'll play Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone" or Etta James's "At Last".
Anyone else wanna guess?

[verticalforce @ Jul 28th 2006 2:58PM]

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

[Chris @ Jul 28th 2006 2:58PM]

if u're a tap tester upgrade to 5472 alot better than b2

[Pinkerton @ Jul 28th 2006 3:05PM]

> Anyone else wanna guess?

"Hold On, Hold On" by Neko Case, "The Waiting" by Tom Petty, or more pessimistically "In The Year 2525" by Zager and Evans.

[Derek @ Jul 28th 2006 3:21PM]

Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Oasis

[bob @ Jul 28th 2006 3:25PM]

"since our current XP-powered setup already does everything we need it to, we're getting pretty close to not caring if Vista is ever released at all."

Talk about low expectations, get an os with a future, and that works

[Steve @ Jul 28th 2006 3:36PM]

I would have to agree. XP does everything that I can ask for, other than DX10 which I have heard won't even be released with Vista, theres really nothing I want from Vista.

[Ashwin @ Jul 28th 2006 3:57PM]

i just dont understand the moaning and groaning about vista. Half of the consumer's PCs wont be "vista ready" by january. So why is there this big fuss. As the previous commenter said, why do we really need to rush Vista when we already have XP which does everything we need it to do. In some ways its microsoft's fault to "hype" it up so early by putting some solid expectations into the "next generation OS".

[ph0ust @ Jul 28th 2006 4:02PM]

why don't you all just go get a mac?!?! who cares about vista anyway??

[James @ Jul 28th 2006 4:11PM]

"Talk about low expectations, get an os with a future, and that works"

Vista has a future? Hah! Too funny. DX10 gets more and more disappointing as the days go by (like, announcing it won't be handling physics). And frankly, I'd rather use OpenGL anyways. Vista is just some bloated piece of crap GUI machine. I couldn't hardly look at it as an OS. I don't plan on upgrading from XP to Vista until it's free. It's not worth a dime.

And to all the people that are going to reply saying that all the cool X360 games that are coming to Vista/DX10 ONLY, get a life and buy the crappy console. It was made for a crappy console, and that's where it should die.

[KML @ Jul 28th 2006 4:25PM]

Yesterday I re-installed Windows 5 times to see what was making it BSOD every time.



Yeah, who needs a better OS anyways.

[RhythmGuru @ Jul 28th 2006 4:27PM]

I was really excited to start running Vista. After using it for a few days, the eye candy got old, and I found that it didn't seem to really streamline anything I did within an OS, with the exception of the folder bar in explorer allowing me to jump back multiple screens without backspacing. Although, how often do I need to do that?
I was underwhelmed.

[JEF @ Jul 28th 2006 4:30PM]

A "current XP-powered setup already does everything we need it to" except make our systems secure.

[Jasncab @ Jul 28th 2006 4:32PM]

I dont feel the rush for vista either... Itll come when it comes. I am waiting to buy a new laptop until the whole mac running windows thing meets vista and then I will make a decision. XP does everything I need from a corporate/teaching standpoint and for video editing etc I can get a mac.
Vista isnt going to help with the main reason I want a mac or the few reasons I dont like my PC.

[AllThingsSimple.net @ Jul 28th 2006 4:44PM]

Just more time for you to setup OSX on your x86. I for one will not touch windows from here out.

[The Grand Master @ Jul 28th 2006 4:58PM]

I've got a few ideas about what they can play,

'Virtual Death','Electric Funeral', 'After Forever' or, 'All Moving Parts Stand Still'. Plenty of Black Sabbath opportunities.

'World of Pain'
'Five Years', David Bowie.
'Second Hand News', Fleetwood Mac.
Or maybe,
"Wait Until Tomorrow', is the most appropriate right now.

Finaly the piece de la résistance,
'The Lemon Song', Led zeppelin.

You get the idea

[VISTAdude @ Jul 28th 2006 5:03PM]

I've got build 5472 running on a MacBook Pro: it's extremely fast and it never crashed while running apps as Dreamweaver Flash Photoshop etc.

I wouldn't be suprised if Vista arrives earlier than January 2007 !

[James Smith @ Jul 28th 2006 5:10PM]

Wanna next generation OS? Try Fedora Core Linux, it's more bleeding edge than you'll ever get with Vista or XP. I switched over 6 months and I'm not going back. Did I forget to mention its free, and secure? I don't even know why anyone cares about Vista. A year after its release, everyone will be making the same complaints about it that they did a year after XP's release.

[David @ Jul 28th 2006 5:14PM]

Not a chance, VISTAdude. Things are definitely coming along (see Anandtech's 5472 review for analysis) but there's still much debugging and refinement to come before an RC is ready to go. After all the time it's taken so far, I'm sure they *really* want to get it right.

How did you get Vista running on the Mac? I'm preparing to purchase a MBP (waiting for WWDC) and would be very interested in dual booting OS X and Vista.

[AllThingsSimple.net @ Jul 28th 2006 5:22PM]

Fedora isn’t secure unless you have experience hardening Linux in general. I have switched from XP Home to Gentoo for home, but Id rather pay and use OS X. I’m just waiting for them to officially acknowledge the release of an x86 OS X in the next week.

For my servers I use FreeBSD, CentOS, or SuSE after moving from Win2k3. I plan to use OSX Server when it’s released as mentioned above.

I have lost faith with MS after using Vista for a few weeks. They obviously cannot compete with the other offerings, whether that is Linux or Mac.

[Craig @ Jul 28th 2006 5:31PM]

This doesn't matter to me anymore. I used to want to run Vista, but now I'm thinking about switching to Mac, and using XP.

[Bhaughbb @ Jul 28th 2006 5:51PM]

I'm on beta 2 myself, and have my machine set up to dual boot to XP but I never want to. Even for video and audio drivers being beta as well as the the overhead of the beta OS, it still runs faster and more stabily than XP. I can turn my game settings higher and have fewer lag issues. Personally I can't wait to get my hands on RC1 or the production version.

[Richard Cartwright @ Jul 28th 2006 10:23PM]

"Lawyers, guns and money" Warren Zevon

[Shadowfire @ Jul 29th 2006 12:09AM]

The windows log on music.... Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb, or better yet your pitiful by weird al, or if the RIAA and the music industry hates on them after attempting to kill Ipods... Give it up by sean paul...... Seriosuly Mac relesed the vista equivalet like years ago. Who needs vista.. but people who need Glass thats the only thing thats new... lol a better BSOD will it be Green this time yay..

[Justin France @ Jul 29th 2006 5:52AM]

"...since our current XP-powered setup already does everything we need it to, we're getting pretty close to not caring if Vista is ever released at all."

Sad that Microsoft's inability to innovate without delays and/or breaking most of what works well in their products makes their geeky customer base complacent with old software.

[VISTAdude @ Jul 29th 2006 5:54AM]

@david: install BootCamp, and during the Partition destination selection from Vista's install, delete the 200MB Efi partition, and everything runs fine. Your Mac will boot with Vista automaticly next time, unless you hit the Option key during boot and you can switch back to OSX.

[VISTAdude @ Jul 29th 2006 5:56AM]

@v8v: get a life and welcome to the real world which is dominated by Windows users. Maybe you just need to take a blue pill next time :)

[Squee @ Jul 29th 2006 5:56AM]

If you want a reliable, secure AND *free*, DONT use any Microsoft product. You are supporting a monopolus corporate machine who doesnt give a damn about you.

Change to Linux. If you have even the smallest computer knowledge you will be able for it. Others will help you along and wont charge you for saying that all you have to do is reboot.

[Z @ Jul 29th 2006 7:04AM]

I say, big deal. So what if it's delayed?

It's not going to hurt Microsoft - they've got $40 or $50 Billion in cash (maybe more) - not to mention it only gives all of us more time to save up for new computers.

I'd rather know that it's going to work and be as bug free as possible than have it rushed out the door and have problems galore.

[Eric @ Jul 29th 2006 8:47AM]

Rush - 2112

...


"Our great computers, fill the hallowed halls!"

[LongshotX @ Jul 29th 2006 3:42PM]

If Microsoft comes up with its own Bootcamp what would be the point of owning a Mac?

[LongshotX @ Jul 29th 2006 3:47PM]

I have never seen a BSOD on my computer. It could be related to your computer manufacturer. I have a Gigabyte Motherboard 1.5 Gb of ram, 3.0 Ghz P4 wHT, 460 GB hard drive, and Media Center 2005. Where is this coming from that XP is not stable. If you have a good system it is very very stable. Use Windows Firewall and a firewall like Zonealarm, free virus scanner like AVG, and some ad-ware removal software, and Firefox or IE7 and XP is top notch. Are you using a Dell?

[4dA @ Jul 29th 2006 7:33PM]

This is a failure in corporate communications, not in product development. I am stunned that Microsoft has not re-org'd the Windows communications team with people that actually understand PR.

[Rob @ Jul 30th 2006 11:21PM]

"A "current XP-powered setup already does everything we need it to" except make our systems secure.

Posted at 4:30PM on Jul 28th 2006 by JEF [ ! ]"

Vista will not make your computer more secure. Ask Symantec http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1990662,00.asp

For $50 list you can get the best Linux distribution plus Open Office 2.0 - www.novell.com/desktop

[maxxwizard @ Jul 31st 2006 8:23AM]

"vista will be a piece of gayness just like xp was."

Please, enough with the detailed argument.

Us "Microsoft fanboys" seem to be the ones that realize Windows is not coded by a bunch of Bill Gates clones. It is coded by hired programmers, who go to work every day and come home to their family. These people are trying their best to deliver a product that will be used by millions of users. Yet of course, all you regular desktop users can argue is: get Linux, get OSX, or release a stable and good version of Windows already.

Since you're all so familiar with how an OS should run, why not major in computer science and code your own OS? Hell, you can even sell it and I'll buy it and test it out. By the way, will it be good enough to run on millions of machines and support thousands of different products and deal with backwards compatibility issues?

Just my $0.02.