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Piecing together Windows Vista
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March 21, 2006
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graphics system....It is not as attractive to buy a consumer upgrade for that in, let's say, 12 months, because it won't have the graphics acceleration to take advantage of Vista."
Microsoft would not say if it had any plans to help cushion the blow, say by offering Vista upgrades to those who buy PCs this year.
"We'll provide more later," Allchin said. "More details."
In the mix
Attendees at the Mix '06 Web developer conference expressed surprise that Microsoft pushed the date out for Windows Vista.
Microsoft partner BT, for example, was planning on starting to create prototype applications using Windows Vista for its clients in the late summer. Now that plan has to be pushed back, said Steve Konya, project director at the British telecommunications company.
"I am surprised. Particularly with the stuff they're showing here, which is real impressive, people got really excited with what can be done, and it made me think it was close to being here," Konya said.
Others said that with the delays Microsoft has already had with Vista, one more change to the schedule is perhaps not unexpected.
Randy McClure, development engineer at consulting firm Telligent, said his company uses Web-based desktop systems, so the delay won't affect it significantly. But he said he was disappointed.
"It's a little disconcerting. But better that they have it right than they rush it," said McClure. "That's always the problem with these guys--if they're late, we beat them up over it."
Though the delay is a big deal for consumers, Gartner analyst Michael Silver said a slight push-back should not affect businesses, which are likely to take their time moving to the new OS.
"For most enterprises, it will take them 18 months for testing and planning before they can start deploying Windows Vista anyway, so this delay won't affect their plans all that much," Silver said in an e-mail.
Ironically, under Microsoft's new plan, businesses will get access to the code this year, while consumers will have to wait.
Silver said he doesn't think many businesses will start to look at alternatives, but Linux sellers will certainly try and use the delay as a marketing opportunity.
"Novell is showing a beta of their new desktop Linux OS at BrainShare this week," Silver said. "It has some of Vista's look and will now beat Windows Vista out the door."
CNET News.com's Joris Evers, Ina Fried, Tom Krazit and Martin LaMonica contributed to this report.
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have had delay after delay, cut after cut, for 3 years now. I dont
see why anyone would be surprised by this delay. Lets just see
how long it takes for Vista to come out now and how stripped
down it is. Watch as Gates allows Steve Jobs to have what will
probably be the best 4th quarter ever for Macs. Apple will have
their entire line over to Intel by then, be releasing ANOTHER OS
(thats 6 OS's in 7 years compared to M$ 2 in the same time
frame), and not to mention probably a new iPod and a new
version of their iLife and iWork suites. Good job mr. Gates on
dropping the ball yet again.
Most of the pretty eye candy in Vista (to me) will only mean taking more time to make it like Windows 2000.
It is a small price to pay for a clutter free GUI with instant responsiveness.
As much as I hate to admit it though, I am likely going to buy a new gaming PC and a (fresh) copy of Vista a few days after it goes on sale. The sole reason (at least at first) is so I can play Halo 2 on my PC.
I should be ashamed of myself :p
It seems to work darn well for Apple. Maybe it won't be as bad as
what the doomsayers say. But then, the two user bases are a little
different from each other.
Vista is going to require a new > $600 PC in most cases and is not really much of a gift idea for that reason. Besides, if somene gets a computer from me I would hate for them to get confused and think they should come to me for support for it.
My next (Vista) PC is going to be in the $2,000+ range.
If you know anyone that buys Christmas gifts like that who needs a friend, let me know.
- Computer Mfgs. Will Have To Heavily Discount
- by Stating March 21, 2006 8:00 PM PST
- The Vista delay is bad news for computer manufacturers. They will have to heavily discount systems in the 4th quarter to entice new buyers to purchase an XP system. Consumers are not going to want to deal with trying to upgrade their computer to Vista once they have unboxed it. The only alternative is to take it to a place like CompUSA and have them do the upgrade, which will probably cost $100 and maybe another $50 - $100 for the Vista software. It's far easier to simply wait until January 07 to buy a new computer that has Vista pre-loaded.
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