Print - Exclusive: Microsoft Hits Windows Vista Beta 2 Delays

Sources at the company told me this week that Microsoft will soon delay the release of Windows Vista Beta 2 from December 7, 2005 to sometime in January or February 2006. However, because the Vista development schedule is extremely time constrained, the company will try and make up lost time by eliminating one of the planned release candidate (RC) milestones that were planned for later in the process.

A Microsoft representative told me that the company remains on track for shipping Windows Vista in the second half of 2006. "We are on schedule and committed to shipping on time and ensuring a high-quality product," I was told. "Microsoft sets internal targets for the development team around milestones, but these are not commitments to specific dates. We do not comment on these internal milestones and we have not announced a specific timeframe for our next major Windows Vista milestone. "

"That said, customers have told us repeatedly they prefer more frequent code drops through our Community Technology Preview (CTP) program [which] provides a great avenue for real time feedback and testing from our customers--feedback we formerly received only through the beta process. You should expect Microsoft to continue their focus to deliver CTPs in the coming months given how successful this program has been."

Previously, sources had revealed to me that Microsoft would at least delay the release of Windows Vista Beta 2 until late December. This more recent delay suggests that the company is having a difficult time meeting its internal shipping criteria for Beta 2, which is considered a major milestone release and will be made widely available to testers and the public. It's not known at this time whether the delay will affect related product releases such as Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 Beta 2 and Windows Media Player 11 Beta 1, both of which were also originally set for a December 7 public release.

Great. Along with the delay of the OS itself, is the delay of the API documentation and other information that developers need. (Information that other teams with MS most likely have access to.)

Oh, and thanks for fixing the bug that was preventing comments from being posted with IE6. (I was getting tired of switching to a computer with IE 5.5 just to post a comment!)

Vista is planned for release in summer of 2006? Yeah right. Beta 2 won't even be out till several months before that, who do they think they're kidding. It would be better to just come out honestly and give a more accurate release date, like fall or Christmas of 2006. That's if all goes well as it is, and no more push backs.

This makes me think that Microsoft won't have Vista ready for the Holiday 2006 season. Eliminating an RC milestone also makes me worry. And so far, Vista looks like a minor to evolutionary upgrade to XP, and not the revolutionary change that MS promised. Perhaps Beta 2 will debut some features and updates that change my mind.

"This makes me think that Microsoft won't have Vista ready for the Holiday 2006 season. Eliminating an RC milestone also makes me worry. And so far, Vista looks like a minor to evolutionary upgrade to XP, and not the revolutionary change that MS promised. Perhaps Beta 2 will debut some features and updates that change my mind." Well, one of the major "upgrades" won't be visual per say. That feature is security. At least that's what MS says. I guess only time will tell.

Despite Microsoft's insistence, I've long suspected that Vista might get delayed to early 2007. I began to think it really might come out on time, but this furthers my doubts.

There's no doubt about it, this is to delay the release of Windows Vista for sure.

I have spent a considerable amount of time with Beta 1 and although I havent drilled down to the kernel level, the only real enhancements that I can see thus far are all graphical and location of resources. There are also a surprising lack of drivers. Also being server side, I have seen and heard very little about a vista server side OS.

Don't panic. Life will go well whether Vista RTMs in 2006 or 2007. Actually, all things considered, a 2007 release date is probably better than a 2006. Lets' math: WinXP came out in 2002. 2007 is about 5 years .. which is about right for a commerical OS run. Furthermore, the bloody things should have a "life relevancy" for at least ten years. Time periods less than that causes "upgrade fatigue" and market place chaos. So it does not bother me one iota that Vista might not see store shelves until 2007 - as a matter of fact I hope that is the case.

I don't. Vista needs to come out as soon as possible, for security reasons and feature reasons. If people are still running Windows XP in administrator accounts in late 2006, I'm going to be beating my head against the wall. Also, OS X is currently wiping the floor with Windows in the features department. I use Spotlight to launch my apps, and when I don't have that wonderful blue text field anymore when I use a Windows box, I cringe.

Yes, because we all know that the most important features of an OS are the pretty, colored text fields and the method of application launching. To me, that definitely signals that OSX is "wiping the floor with Windows in the feature department." :) But seriously folks, the only reason I don't like the delay is because I want to play with the new beta! WMP 11 looks great... much better than iTunes (if it performs as well as it looks).

Windows XP was released in late 2001. I 2007 release will mean almost 6yrs of development for this new OS.

You guys are dumbfucks, they've finished the programming you idiots, they're holding off until Windows XP Media Center Edition becomes obsolete. Coolqf, why the **** would they spend all that time developing the OS, are you retarded? They're not going to finish programming right when they decide to release it. You ****. They've COMPLETED the full version. You guys are all dumbfucks. No hard feelings guys, but seriously, before you come in here acting all high and mighty, do some research, ok? I know this because I work very closely with Microsoft, VERY closely, and I have actually obtained a full version copy of Windows Vista. Obviously you guys wouldn't believe me though...

Retard above is right they have completed Vista. When an OS enters beta that means microsoft is finished but it spooning us test versions. Each version will add more features until the complete OS is in RC. His full version is a preview version not intended for public release. It would be buggy as hell and missing some features MS developed the past year. Screw Apple OS X Tiger. You'd have to be gay to run an OS that's named after a different cat each few months. Join the 87% of the world that uses Windows. Apple users really aren't that smart. Linux users I have much more respect for. of the 4% that use Apple in the world, I'd say 90% don't know how a PC really operates much less know what RISC means. They'll punch it in google to tell me I'm sure though :P

I think I know when the Windows Vista will be officially released. In the CES Gates or somebody else said that WinVI should be launched in Fall.

i dont know but they need to hurry up with this beta 2 im sick of XP and want something new and interesting, XP is boring and im sick of having ot babysit it all the time, its almost as bad as 98 was, if anyone knows exactly when and where beta2 is at then please let me/us know thanks