Research firm Gartner has said that it expects Vista, Microsoft’s major Windows upgrade, to not appear until the second quarter of next year.
According to Gartner, Windows Vista is unlikely to rear its shiny, Aero-decorated head before the second quarter of 2007 – possibly for an April launch with “broad availability” following in the same quarter.
This projection puts the release date several months behind Microsoft’s scheduled launch date of January 2007.
Writing in a research note, Gartner commented, “Microsoft’s track record is clear. It consistently misses target dates for major operating system releases. We don’t expect broad availability of Windows Vista until at least 2Q ’07.”
Microsoft’s current plans involve releasing Vista to manufacturing in October/November 2006 and making it available to enterprises through volume licenses by the end of this year, with the OS becoming available to computer manufacturers for shipping in January, 2007.
Although Windows users are no strangers to endlessly delayed launches, a Microsoft spokesperson insisted that all was well in the wonderful world of Windows.
“Respectfully disagreeing” with Gartner’s view, the spokesperson said that that finished Windows Vista would ship in November and January with a second beta ready to roll in the second quarter of this year.
Gartner was having none of it, sagely advising that “one should never overestimate how much Microsoft will underestimate the complexity and time needed to deliver a major new client OS.”