If yet another Windows release date falls by the wayside, would anyone care? That"s the question that Microsoft watchers are asking, as Microsoft comes into the home stretch with its Windows Vista release. Researchers with the Gartner Group issued a customer note on May 1, claiming that Microsoft will ship Windows Vista in the second calendar quarter of 2007, rather than in January, as Microsoft recently promised.
Microsoft officials are denying Gartner"s report, claiming the company is still on track to deliver Vista to volume licensees in November, and make the product available through all channels in January. "We respectfully disagree with Gartner"s views around timing of the final delivery of Windows Vista," said a Windows spokeswoman. "We remain on track to deliver Windows Vista Beta 2 in the second quarter and to deliver the final product to volume license customers in November 2006 and to other businesses and consumers in January 2007."