newsmaker When it comes to Vista, Microsoft's update to the client version of Windows, sticking to a product shipment schedule has been a recurring problem.
Most industry watchers thought the company would revise its ship date in time for this year's holiday season, especially after the well-publicized "reset" of Vista--back when it was still known as Longhorn--in August of 2004. But Tuesday, Microsoft again pushed back its launch plans.
Company executives say the move is a necessary short-term pain that will lead to a long-term gain for the entire PC industry. Analysts aren't so sure and wonder if holiday-season PC sales--as well as Microsoft's credibility with partners--will suffer as a result.
To get an insider's view on the thinking behind the decision to delay Vista, CNET News.com spoke with Brad Goldberg, general manager for Windows Client product management at Microsoft.
Q: When Microsoft announced changes in 2004 to the Longhorn--now
Vista--schedule, one goal was to take out WinFS and change some features to
really guarantee a holiday 2006 launch. Does Microsoft now regret that
decision?
Goldberg: In August of 2004 we made three announcements: We
were going to be taking parts of the Windows development platform down-level to
Windows XP; we were going to be separating the release from WinFS; and we were
going to have broad availability of Windows Vista in the second half of 2006.
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It seems like the Vista delay will create a lot of headaches for PC makers
and how they plan to sell PCs during the holidays. Is Microsoft going to do
anything to help them out?
Goldberg: The feedback that we have heard from
partners is different than what you just outlined. The feedback we got from OEM
(original equipment manufacturer) partners, retailers, channel partners and
others was pretty consistent. They were asking us for visibility around our
ability to deliver broadly for consumers at the holiday season. They said the
thing that would have been hardest and most challenging would have been getting
to a point close to the holiday and either scaling back availability to the
point where people wouldn't have the supply to meet demand, or that we would
have to alter some plans after they had made investments. So, this decision was
really made based on very consistent feedback we got from the industry about how
to think about our release timing.
Windows chief Jim Allchin talked on the conference call about how security
was a particular issue (for the delay). But in general, it seems that security
stuff is related to architectural decisions that were made a long time ago. Was
there something specific that came up recently on the security
front?
Goldberg: The points that Jim was trying to make were around the
fact that we were feature-complete earlier in the year and now it's around fit
and finish, and what we need to do to get the overall user experience that we
want. One example is user account control. That's an area where there is very
significant investment that we made. It's one of the areas of the product that's
going to drive the most value around a safer, more secure computing experience
for businesses as well as for consumers. But like Windows XP Service Pack 2,
when we make changes to make the computing experience more secure, there can be
an impact on applications. This is a space that as we work with corporate
customers, they need to look at the impact that changes they need to make will
have on applications. When we work with consumers, ISVs and other software
vendors, we want to be conservative and make sure we have the right amount of
time so that we can act on the feedback we get from customers through the rest
of the cycle.
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