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Microsoft Corporation confirmed that Windows Vista, the next
generation of the Windows client operating system, is on target to go into broad
consumer beta to approximately two million users in the second quarter of 2006.
Microsoft is on track to complete the product this year, with business
availability in November 2006 and broad consumer availability in January 2007.
Windows Vista will enable increased mobile and remote
productivity, significantly reducing deployment and support costs, and providing
a more compliant desktop platform. More than half a million customers have
received the latest community technology preview for Windows Vista, and have
reportedly been providing consistent and positive feedback to the vendor.
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| Brian
Valentine and Kevin Johnson from Microsoft announcing Windows Vista at the
company's Global Business Conference (MGB), Atlanta in July 2005 |
"Product quality and a great out-of-box experience have
been two of our key drivers for Windows Vista, and we are on track to deliver on
both," said Jim Allchin, Co-President for the Platforms and Services
Division at Microsoft. "But the industry requires greater lead time to
deliver Windows Vista on new PCs during holiday. We must optimize for the
industry, so we've decided to separate business and consumer
availability."
Because of the way businesses test and deploy software, it
makes sense for Microsoft volume licensing customers to receive Windows Vista
starting in November of this year. Availability for consumers will follow in
January.
"We strongly support Microsoft's decision to
prioritize quality in determining the schedule for Windows Vista," said
Todd Bradley, Executive VP, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard. "A
January launch of Windows Vista allows us to execute in a consistent way
throughout the holidays, and will provide the right opportunity for a large,
exciting launch industrywide after the New Year."
Added Ron Boire, Executive VP and General Merchandising
Manager, Best Buy, "When people come to our stores to buy a new PC or new
software for their PC, we want to be able to offer them a broad set of choices,
immediate availability and a great retail experience. We agree with Microsoft
that it's best to do this right - and in this case it's delivering Windows
Vista-based PCs with confidence in January 2007."
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