Microsoft should be shot for this.

NT5 was the last good MS OS. XP was a mixed-results refresh, and Vista seems to be a pretty massive step in the wrong direction.

I'd still be happy on 2K SP4 if it weren't for NUMA. Only XP and up support that in MS land. If MS suddenly released SP5 for 2K, with NUMA and HT support, I wouldn't have any more XP machines. As it is, I have XP64 with most of the XP GUI fruit disabled, as close to 2K as I can get.

Can't say I'm surprised. This kinda thing goes back to Windows 95 when it was called Chicago. The expected release was initially 1994; the OS didn't ship until August 1995. Then Windows 97, which was supposed to drop in 1997, became Windows 98 and shipped in June of that year. None of this should suprise anyone.

I was actually expecting Vista to be delayed until June of next year. With the exception of Windows 2000 most of the company's OSes have shipped in the summer/fall time frame (Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 workstation, Windows 98/98SE, Windows ME, and Windows XP). If Vista gets pushed back to next June it gives me more time to build a second box to run it :-).

It'll be about Q2'07 when the CD version of Vista ships.

I hope it's delayed as much as possible. Like until 2008 might be good LOL.

At work I view it as a disruptive technology, heck we just mostly completed the move to XP from 98 (those that were left). The last thing I need or want is another OS to consider moving toward. No thanks.

At home, I've seen little to compel me. Lots to push me away. Improved security is about it and a pretty interface.

"magnitude of technological improvement"

It's true, sometimes you have to go to the john and just have a good sit. You can't rush things like that.

I hope it does get delayed. Less bugs when it comes out is nice, but more importantly it delays the DRM lockdown headaches that should come with its release :P

I expect I'll be dragged into Vista-land sometime in 2009, depending on what computers I have at the time and if I even care about PC gaming by then.

Greetings!

DirectX 10 will be Vista only.
That makes it a must-have software on release date.

No excuses for this... unless they suddenly decided to re-integrate WinFS in to Vista!

Huh. They don't even seem to be aiming high anymore. The really advanced stuff has been removed, and it really looks like it's just going to be a cleaned up XP...

Apple's 18 month-ish schedule is kinda nice. 10.5 seems to be on track, and hopefully we'll get a few leaks on what to expect soon.

i hope they delay it as far as possible; pushes back the "time until nothing runs on the previous os" equally much.

Hey, man...OS X took 5 years and ANOTHER 2-3 years to get "right"...I think MS is allowed to slide this back if needed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"it usually takes between six- to eight-weeks for PC manufacturers to load the operating system onto new computers, Gartner said."

Dang! XP takes 30 minutes to install on my PC!