McLaws is right on Windows Vista ship date

July 31, 2006 By

I’m sad to agree with Robert McLaws about Windows Vista’s ship schedule. This sucker is just not ready. Too many things are too slow and/or don’t work. I’ve been on the betas of every Windows OS since Windows 3.1 and Vista is starting to feel good, but it doesn’t feel good enough to release to the factory in October. It feels like it needs a good six more months than that, which would mean a mid-year release next year.

Some things that need to be fixed? UI issues (see Chris Pirillo). Speed/performance issues (unless it’ll only be run on super-fast new computers — I went back to XP on my Lenovo Tablet PC because Vista was sluggish and the drivers weren’t reliable). Application compatibility (I’m hearing that many apps are having problems). Driver compat (my Dell computer at Microsoft never worked completely, and a coworker called me a few days ago to ask “did you ever get the soundcard working?”)

Remember: no one will remember whether this thing slipped another few months IF it’s a good product when it comes out (remember Windows 2000? It slipped by years). But everyone will remember if this is a disaster (the community is still talking about Windows ME, which was a particularly horrible release).

If this ships in October, I will recommend not installing it and waiting for the first service pack. There’s no way the quality will be high enough to trust it if it ships early. I hope Microsoft takes the time to do this right.

If they don’t Apple will have far more market share at the end of 2007 than it will if Microsoft ships a great release.

Speaking of Apple, they are readying a dizzying amount of new products. I wish I could camp out at an Apple store during the World Wide Developer Conference on August 7th. I wish I could say more, but that’d get me sued by Steve Jobs and I don’t need that kind of heck right now.

Filed Under: 1
← Older Comments
  • http://www.digitalboomerang.com/ deetoo

    Yeap, I remember it was Bill Gates presenting Windows and it crashed. But nonetheless, the product shipped and the world bought. Will it happen for Vista again? Microsoft came over and did a snazzy presentation on BBC using Vista to deliver unparalleled rich UX to entice us to stick with the product and be hyped. The guy next to me just said “We’ll wait for service pack 2″.

  • http://www.digitalboomerang.com deetoo

    Yeap, I remember it was Bill Gates presenting Windows and it crashed. But nonetheless, the product shipped and the world bought. Will it happen for Vista again? Microsoft came over and did a snazzy presentation on BBC using Vista to deliver unparalleled rich UX to entice us to stick with the product and be hyped. The guy next to me just said “We’ll wait for service pack 2″.

  • Pingback: >bt: Microsoft Watchers: Delay Next Windows Version

  • Pingback: WordPress.com » Get a Free Blog Here

  • Pingback: The Fluid Imagination Blog · Less Than A Week Away

  • blinx

    >You know i think when it ships it will just be
    >a rip off of the current mac os

    NO FARKING WAY!!!!!

    It’ll be a rip off full-stop. XP with bigger hardware requirements.

  • blinx

    >You know i think when it ships it will just be
    >a rip off of the current mac os

    NO FARKING WAY!!!!!

    It’ll be a rip off full-stop. XP with bigger hardware requirements.

  • Pingback: Stewtopia » Blog Archive » WWDC rumor roundup

  • Pingback: Microsoft Tracker » Vista: Ready or Not, Here It Comes?

  • Pingback: SpotNet » Blog Archive » Bloggers to Microsoft: Take your time with Vista

  • spawn

    Well all I have to say is that, vista reworks the kernel, but hasnt changed it which is what they need to do to make it more secure, so they would have to rewrite the kernel which they wont because it will break programs, well heres and easy solution make a version for pc OS upgrade and make a version with the new kernel, i know more work for woftware writers, but geez we need to push away, we need a new kernel, we need new things leave everyone behind, we cant go forward if they have to worry about backwards compatability, move forward thats the key, i think microsoft made a mistake writing the whole OS ground up, now we have so many bugs to deal with, so were gonna have to wait untill a few more os releases before it gets stable enough like xp sp2, u guys remember Windows Me? geez 98 se is more stable,

  • spawn

    Well all I have to say is that, vista reworks the kernel, but hasnt changed it which is what they need to do to make it more secure, so they would have to rewrite the kernel which they wont because it will break programs, well heres and easy solution make a version for pc OS upgrade and make a version with the new kernel, i know more work for woftware writers, but geez we need to push away, we need a new kernel, we need new things leave everyone behind, we cant go forward if they have to worry about backwards compatability, move forward thats the key, i think microsoft made a mistake writing the whole OS ground up, now we have so many bugs to deal with, so were gonna have to wait untill a few more os releases before it gets stable enough like xp sp2, u guys remember Windows Me? geez 98 se is more stable,

  • Alex Givant

    Excellent show about Vista network stack

    http://www.twit.tv/sn51

  • Alex Givant

    Excellent show about Vista network stack

    http://www.twit.tv/sn51

  • Pingback: Using Wiki in Education » Blog Archive » Did Apple remove products from the WWDC06 keynote because of Scoble?

  • Pingback: The Penguin Mafia : » Windows Vista Keeps Getting Better and Better

  • http://WINDOWSPS MARIN

    TYTJ

  • MARIN

    TYTJ

  • Pingback: PodTech to Report in Person from the 2006 Apple World Wide Developers Conference | PodTech.net: Silicon Valley, Technology, & Media Podcast

  • Pingback: STUFFLEUFAGUS » Almost one month ago today, Scoble said Vista wasn’t ready - I agreed with him

  • Pingback: PodTech to Report in Person from the 2006 Apple World Wide Developers Conference at PodTech.net: Silicon Valley, Technology, & Media Podcast

  • Pingback: ectotechnica » Windows Vista is Fat, Stole OS X’s Prom Dress

  • Pingback: STUFFLEUFAGUS » Blog Archive » The Entire Windows Vista Story (from my perspective)

  • http://www.juegoszaping.com/ juegos

    “If this ships in October, I will recommend not installing it and waiting for the first service pack. There’s no way the quality will be high enough to trust it if it ships early.”

  • http://www.juegoszaping.com/ juegos

    “If this ships in October, I will recommend not installing it and waiting for the first service pack. There’s no way the quality will be high enough to trust it if it ships early.”

  • Garbage. Sucks. Junk. Horrible

    Hate is an understatement. I despise this operating system, literally.

    I was one of the earlier adopters and after forking over much tango denero to buy this sorry excuse for an operating system, I soon came to realize it would be littered with more bugs than a 400 year-old wooden porch.

    Crashes occured daily, blue screens a plenty. You name it. And that is not even considering the lack of driver support. This GIGO operating system found ways to surprise me, and in a bad way.

    So I waited patiently, thinking SP1 would save the day. Last week, I installed SP1, only to have this operating system show me new blue screens of frozen tundra. Crashing daily, sometimes twice a day! This for me is quite common. And this is a clean install computer!

    Gates, give me back my damn money! You should be paying me to use this junk!

  • Garbage. Sucks. Junk. Horrible. That is, Vista.

    Hate is an understatement. I despise this operating system, literally.

    I was one of the earlier adopters and after forking over much tango denero to buy this sorry excuse for an operating system, I soon came to realize it would be littered with more bugs than a 400 year-old wooden porch.

    Crashes occured daily, blue screens a plenty. You name it. And that is not even considering the lack of driver support. This GIGO operating system found ways to surprise me, and in a bad way.

    So I waited patiently, thinking SP1 would save the day. Last week, I installed SP1, only to have this operating system show me new blue screens of frozen tundra. Crashing daily, sometimes twice a day! This for me is quite common. And this is a clean install computer!

    Gates, give me back my damn money! You should be paying me to use this junk!

← Older Comments