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May 25, 2006
Vista will ship ... some day ... maybe
When will people stop taking Microsoft executives so literally?
Just because Steve Ballmer declared, cross his heart and hope to die, not a week ago, that Vista would not be delayed by Symantec taking legal exception to what it claims is the misappropriation of trade secrets, and just because Bill Gates described the synchronised release of the latest betas of Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Longhorn Server as a milestone, journalists started speculating that Microsoft would meet its latest schedules.
Bad move. Even world class semioticians are incapable of interpreting the real meaning of Microsoft statements.
You have to understand that Steve Ballmer was in Beijing when he made those comments about Symantec. So what with finding himself in Tokyo, he would of course naturally feel free to re-interpret his own remarks. Now, it appears, while the Symantec lawsuit wouldn't interfere with the schedule, something else might. And that something else might be the prospect of an additional 1.1 million sales if Vista ships later.
"Certainly, when Windows Vista comes to the market next year, and it will be next year, we will make sure that we make a high quality product, ship a high quality product, when it's ready," Ballmer told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) wire service. Microsoft would take feedback from the just-released Vista Beta 2, and decide "in the next few weeks" whether to stick to January or shift the date. And since Vista will already miss the fourth quarter sales season, it made sense not to ship until the next "machine cycle".
Which may mean Gartner was on the money when it claimed the latest shipping date was stewed rhubarb.
Posted by cw at May 25, 2006 01:05 PM
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