Recent reports, some credible, some not so, suggest that Microsoft's current release targets for their new operating system may be missed again. Not only that, they also suggest that the transition could be an expensive one.

Is it desperation or just a ploy to bring healthy competition to the workplace? Senior Vice President for Windows, Brian Valentine, emailed a weekend challenge to the Windows Vista team on Friday. Fix a bug and win $100, the engineer who nails the most bugs by Monday wins $500 extra. As most bounties go it looks small but then who knows how many bugs there are still floating round the Vista codebase?

Microsoft is rumoured to be readying Beta 2 of Vista for distribution to testers late this month or early June and it does appear odd that there is pressure on the development team at this late hour, following the last extension to the launch date.

The release of Beta 2 has had Gartner doing its maths. It's released a report suggesting that Microsoft will miss its latest Vista deadlines, November for Enterprises, January for general release. By calculating the time to delivery of the last batch of Microsoft releases from the release of their second beta's, and taking in to account the increased complexity of Vista, Gartner reckons that Vista won't be on general release until late May or early June 2007.

The report laid several bare facts at Microsoft's door, "Microsoft's track record is clear," Gartner said. "It consistently misses target dates for major operating system releases. We don't expect broad availability of Windows Vista until at least 2Q '07." It followed up with a warning that "one should never overestimate how much Microsoft will underestimate the complexity and time needed to deliver a major new client OS."

Microsoft's continuing scrap with the EU Competition Commission also raises some concerns over delays. European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes has reportadly gone as far as to personally voice concerns over Vista to Steve Balmer, Microsoft CEO. However, given the fact that it has taken the EU several years to rule on Microsoft's anti-competitive behaviour, then enforce that ruling and then deal with the appeals process, it is unlikely that they will be able to influence a release date that Microsoft suggests is only 6 months away. It is more likely that it would impact a Service Pack 2 release.

A report recently touted by Computer Weekly suggested that hardware costs associated with the transition to Vista could cost businesses £350 per desktop over the cost of XP hardware. Most of the issues lie around the Aero user interface. This graphics system, new to Vista, is pushed out to the graphics card for rendering and requires a minimum specification of card to run, a specification that is not available on current low end PC's.

The report cited a Dell specified machine where the cost differential was £350 although it didn't provide any specifications. In reality the Intel GMA950 integrated chipset, currently shipped in several lower cost PC's and Apple's MacMini, will run Aero and with the PC market's high volume, low cost business model the hardware cost will be nowhere near £350 by the time Vista ships. The likelihood is that by the forth quarter of Vista's release hardware price differences will be negligible, the main problem for business will be that Vista may not run on their current hardware and investment will be required.

Please use the 'E-Mail' button immediately under the article title to send this item to a friend.

Press here to comment on this story >>

Today in Life: The Market is in Your Hands >>

TODAY

• Bank Tells Staff To Knock Off Early To Make Babies
• Meet Goldman Sachs' Newest Managing Directors
• Best Place To Work Update

THIS WEEK

• Best Place To Work 2010 Latest
• Top Firm Told To Give Up Bonuses
• 'Sorry - But Christmas Is Cancelled'