Microsoft Hedges On Vista Deadline

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday continued to send mixed signals about Windows Vista's ship date, claiming that it was on track to deliver the new operating system in early 2007 but also repeating that it wouldn't release Vista until it was satisfied with the software's quality.

At Microsoft's annual financial analyst's conference in Redmond, Wash., Kevin Johnson, co-president of the company's platforms and services group, addressed Vista's ship date.

"We will ship Windows Vista when the product is ready," he said. "[But] product quality is job one.

"There's no data or information that says we are not going to make the November business availability or the January [2007] consumer availability," said Johnson in one breath. In the next, he added "However, we are going to ship the product when it's ready. We are just going to take it milestone by milestone."

In March, Microsoft announced that it was postponing Vista from an anticipated October release to November for enterprise customers with volume licenses, and January 2007 for everyone else.Since then, Microsoft has repeatedly said it is on track to meet those deadlines while also refusing to commit to those dates. In fact, earlier this month, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates gave Vista only an 80 percent chance of releasing on time.

"Job one is we will ship a quality product," Johnson repeated later in his presentation.

Earlier in the morning, however, chief executive Steve Ballmer said nothing about Vista's quality, only that "Vista and Office 2007 launches come for consumers at the beginning of next year."

In other Vista news, Johnson also said that although Microsoft won't set pricing for Vista until closer to its roll-out, costs will be in line with current lists.

"[We] don't expect significant changes in our pricing strategy. However, Vista Ultimate is a new SKU, and we will sell that at a modest premium."Vista Ultimate will be a superset of the consumer and business editions, and according to Microsoft "combines all of the advanced infrastructure features of a business-focused operating system, all of the management and efficiency features of a mobility-focused operating system, and all of the digital entertainment features of a consumer-focused operating system."

Microsoft's current in-production OS, Windows XP, tops out at $299 for Windows XP Professional.

The company's presentations to analysts continue throughout Thursday.