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Vista Gets Official Release Dates

Posted by samzenpus on Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:06 AM
from the this-weeks-dates dept.
Microsoft
SlinkySausage writes "Five years, three months and five days after Windows XP made its debut, Microsoft will usher its next-generation OS onto the stage. Microsoft has set November 30 as the release date for Vista (and Office 2007) to business customers and January 30, 2007 as the date for the official launch to consumers and The World At Large."
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  • But I liked it better when they called it OS X!

    J/K, I'm not gay.
    • If you were going to compare it your shoul have included a reference to 10.3. It's not cool in the Apple world to imply Win is on par.

      Soryy windows people.

  • 535? (Score:5, Funny)

    by PHAEDRU5 (213667) <instascreed&gmail,com> on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:15AM (#16684783) Homepage
    Surely there's a numbering system where this reads "666".
  • Haven't I seen this before. I can't remember the details, but I thought they already had this planned out months ago?
  • Unless they're particularly sad gamers who MUST play HALO2
    • ... who could then probably go out and buy an original Xbox AND a copy of Halo 2 for a hell of a lot less than the cost of upgrading to Vista...
    • For that matter, gamers who would rather trade halo2 for all the games that will likely be broken in vista until patches come out. Admittedly I havn't tried vista, but thats how it was in XP. Most serious gamers stuck with 9x until all the tournaments upgraded.
    • It wouldnt surprise me if Direct3D10 is supported by WINE in the near future (depending on just how different it is to D3D9). So people will be able to play Halo with WINE (or maybe Transgaming WineX/Cdega/whatever if they get there first). It may even be possible to port the Diret3D10-on-top-of-openGL code from WINE over to Windows or to otherwise create a third party clone of Direct3D10 on Windows. Not to mention ReactOS that may well end up supporting D3D10 in the future.

  • Christmas Shopping! (Score:5, Funny)

    by NineNine (235196) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:17AM (#16684811) Homepage
    Just in time for Christmas Shopping Season! I'm getting everybody in my family a shiny new End User License Agreement (EULA)! I can't wait for Christmas morning around the tree, when we all get to click "Accept" together! Now, that's what I call quality family time.
  • No Vista for the holidays.

    But: "buyers of Vista-ready Toshiba notebooks preloaded with XP Professional or XP Tablet Edition -- which is just about all of 'em -- will qualify for an upgrade to Vista Business for a meagre $27 'shipping and handling' cost. The uber-OS itself, over five years in the baking, is free."

    And here's the best explanation I've found regarding how Corporate/Retail keys will work. Note that I didn't say the explanation was simple.
  • Well, this is the so manyeth announcement from MS about when Longhorn/Vista will be released. I guess that the inclusion of exact dates should give us some more confidence that it will really happen, this time. However, it's still interesting to see how many timeframes and features Microsoft announced that they never lived up to.

  • Why is the delay such a big deal? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wizrd_nml (661928) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:23AM (#16684853) Homepage
    Let me say up front I consider myself computer savvy but definitely not a programmer or an expert. My question to everyone is, why is everyone so upset about how long it's taking for Windows Vista to come out?

    As far as I can see, Windows XP, with patches, a firewall and Firefox seems to be working fine. I don't feel the need to upgrade as soon as Vista comes out.

    They're late on the deadline they originally set for themselves. But I don't see anyone else losing any sleep over it.

    • Five years between operating system releases is a very long time in the computer industry. Look at how OS X improved in five years (from OS X 10.0 to OS X 10.4, with OS X 10.5 coming out sometime in the spring). Look at how KDE and GNOME have improved over 5 years. Look at some other 5-year periods of time in the computing industry. From 1991 to 1996, we went from DOS and Windows 3.0 to Windows 95 and Windows NT, and that is just on the MS side of things.

      Five years without any changes other than securi

        • I am sorry for you if you think improvement goes by numbers. Sounds same d***head argument that intel is doing bad since they haven't release any new faster processor in last 2 years (in GHz terms).

          And, I'm sorry for you that you are so willing to spout without having any clue of what you speak. You could not possibly say this with a straight face if you had actually USED OSX.

          IMHO, OSX didn't really come into its own until about 10.3. The difference between 10.2 and 10.3 is rather startling - the performanc

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Chicane-UK (455253)
            [i]Contrast that with Win XP which was passed by KDE on XWindows some years ago.[/i]

            Sorry - it one particular area is KDE superior to Windows XP?

            I've used Linux (and of course desktop platforms such as KDE and Gnome) for over 9 years - and whilst I could wholeheartedly say that it has come on leaps and bounds in that time, i'd still maintain that the Window Managers still have some way to go before they feel completely integrated into the system, and as usable as Windows is.

            Perhaps i'm just more used to Win

        • Re:Why is the delay such a big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by baadger (764884) on Thursday November 02 2006, @04:19AM (#16686005)
          SP2 was a gigantic jump in terms of security, but it was a far cry from a "new OS" by respectable standards (Maybe by Microsoft's). The problem with Microsoft is they don't seem to take the time to make any *non-essential* improvements to their OS's once they're out the door. IE7, and perhaps WMP 10, surely must be the only things MS has ever released to improve the user experience in XP and they only exist because of Vista.

          Sure, fancy new apps and UI's should be saved for new versions (like Vista), they have a business to run after all, but what about improvements to CPU scheduling or memory management?

          Linux (2.6.18) performs *much* better under load than my XP x64 installation which is always swapping out when it doesn't need to (When *I* notice a performance hit when I have free RAM going to me that means the algorithm obviously isn't right for desktop use) and grinds to a massive halt under heavy CPU load. When I copy a large file from one disk to another in Windows I may as well just go make a brew because the XP shell itself becomes as slow as frozen tar. Linux remains interactive even under 100% cpu load or when moving large files around across disks.

          Anyone who tells me that XP have made improvements in this area has to be joking. Sure they may have put in some tweaks here and there, but it's marginal if anything and not on par with other OS's in 2006.

          IMHO Microsoft should release two versions of their "Service Pack"'s, one purely a security response roll-up *plus updates to improve to underlying architecture (kernel updates)* and the other a bundle of applications and UI/user experience enhancements like we're getting in Vista. People could pay for the latter. Then they should release these upgrades incrementally every year *on the dot* and do away with the stupid 5 year life cycle. Yes this is like Apple does it and it does it better better. As someone who's never used or bought a Mac in my life, I still think Microsoft need to take a page out of Apple's book and adopt some of their practices.

          Vista will be the same old flawed release, it'll be glitchy until service pack 1 and Microsoft will never release anything other than essential security updates for it through Windows Update. The Ultimate Extras thing will be a joke because noone will use it after shelling out hundred's of dollars already.

          All I'm saying is Microsoft need to wake the fuck up and realise people don't want to run Windows Update and see 60 obscure looking boring security updates and hundreds of meg to download. They want to see "Update: Improvements to the look and feel of IE7", "Update: Improvement to desktop responsiveness under load" and "Update: Improve ease of use of ripping music with WMP" and i'm sure if people saw these updates flow out of Redmond on a reliable basis they would be willing to pay for them on a yearly subscription basis if it was fairly priced.
    • Its mostly because Microsoft, with its (quickly fading) monopoly and recent poor record on a number of sides, all the pushed deadlines, etc, kind of owes its customers a lot. For the non-customers (macs and linux users), its also a good way to bash Microsoft.

      Honestly, from a developer's point of view, the recent trend was a blessing. Aside for a few hiccups, we didn't have much to worrie about. For internal apps, even IE6's stagnating was kind of a blessing, to some extent: less time spent testing new ve
    • Ask yourself the opposite question, "How is the next generation OS from Microsoft going to give me more value than me having to spend a couple more hundreds on something I already got or could get with a Mac.

    • Re:Why is the delay such a big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by suv4x4 (956391) on Thursday November 02 2006, @02:02AM (#16685399)
      My question to everyone is, why is everyone so upset about how long it's taking for Windows Vista to come out?

      The logic is simple. Slashdotters, and a lot news/blog sites just become artificially "upset" at everything Microsoft does. So don't be surprised.

      Vista delayed? OMG we're upset!
      Vista release dates announced? OMG we're upset!
      Microsoft patents something? OMG we're upset!
      Microsoft opens the patent of something? OMG we're upset!

      Basically never mind what Microsoft does, is quickly wrapped in conspiracy theories and doomsday scenarios, and frequently the logic is so weak, that the whole thing reads better as light attempts at sarcasm.

    • Because it is a big deal, IMHO. (Score:5, Informative)

      by ichigo 2.0 (900288) on Thursday November 02 2006, @03:43AM (#16685883)
      I'm looking forward to DX10, lower CPU usage (because the UI is run on the GPU), the ability to prioritize I/O (no more 10 fps in games if you move big files around on your computer at the same time), SMB 2.0 (transfers should survive now if the network is disconnected for a moment), virtualized registry (programs run in their own little world = less fudging around with regedit to clean up broken stuff), improved windows APIs (this is mostly for us programmers), improved audio system (ability to mute/adjust sound per application instead), multitasking of GPUs, general bugfixes and improved stability. This was just off the top of my head.

      A better question would be why some people (excluding mac & linux users :) are not looking forward to Vista? Aside from the DRM (which will be promptly cracked), that is.

  • Breaking news (Score:5, Funny)

    by ameyer17 (935373) <slashdot@ameyer17.com> on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:27AM (#16684881) Homepage
    Unseasonably cold temperatures predicted for November 30th in Hell.
  • on when the first patch will be released, and another for SP1

  • Can't Wait for Apple (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Killer Eye (3711) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:28AM (#16684889)
    Somehow, I see this going a little like Apple's surprise price reduction for the iPod just before the Zune came along: Microsoft employees scrambling to hack some last-minute changes into their strategy after hearing what Apple is doing.

    So imagine MacWorld just before this January 30 Vista release. Jobs has already shown he's not too afraid to take a stab at Redmond. We all expect some surprise Leopard features that speak for themselves, but expect some intentional jabs as well. Maybe even a TV commercial campaign to steal thunder from the TV campaign Microsoft is sure to launch (because they always do).

    Personally, I predict the real show-stopper will be a surprise price reduction from Apple. Seriously, if they knocked Leopard *down* to $99 or something, Microsoft would be looking really bad.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by gordgekko (574109)

      Personally, I predict the real show-stopper will be a surprise price reduction from Apple. Seriously, if they knocked Leopard *down* to $99 or something, Microsoft would be looking really bad.

      Yes, just imagine all the Mac owners who were waiting for Vista. Now they'll have to make do with OS X running on their Apple-branded computers.

      How exactly is this going to affect Microsoft exactly? You really think the average Wintel user takes notice of Apple OS pricing?

      • Many people at the moment are waiting for Vista to arrive before buying new hardware. With the prices of Macs these days, it doesn't really matter wether you buy an Apple or a good Windows box. Many people are fed up with all the viruses etc they have to cope with every day, so OS X is a good alternative to MS for more and more people.
    • I think the biggest stab at Microsoft that Apple could do, would me for Steve to come out for his keynote and talk about Leopard's features for a bit, and then come out and say, "And I'm sure you're all wondering when Leopard is going to be available. Well, guess what? We're shipping it today, a whole three weeks before Vista!"

      Although I'm not expecting it, I wouldn't be surprised. I wasn't expecting the first Intel Macs to be available as early as they were.

  • oh my (Score:3, Funny)

    by chowdy (992689) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:28AM (#16684897)
    Repent the end is extremely fucking nigh
  • Vista shipping?

    The Leopard/Ubuntu update must be coming along a lot faster than expected. I can't wait to delve into all those nifty features Vista has promised over the last few years! That kick ass WinFS addition will surely make my life easier.

    <C:\>ongrts.win
    indeed.

  • 5 years, 3 months, 5 days... Yet still... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Beren (21815) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:38AM (#16684955) Homepage

    ...manage to beat Duke Nukem Forever.

    According to this page [duke4.net], DNF has been in (in)active development for over 8 years...

  • University licenses (Score:3, Interesting)

    by thesupermikey (220055) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:50AM (#16685013) Homepage Journal
    Does anyone have any details on which flavor of Vista will be made available for university licenses?
  • So when will the first DirectX 10 hardware be available?
  • Word of warning to anyone planning to jump in on Nov 30, make sure you can get Vista drivers for *everything* you want to use.

    I played around with Vista RC1 a bit last week on a spare machine. For the most part, I was actually pretty impressed with the ease of install. Inevitably there were a couple of devices (onboard audio and USB wireless) that it didn't support. However, it seems that the driver model has changed pretty significantly from XP/2000 as these didn't work at all.

    So the release date isn't

    • That implies Linux users get any sex, you're thinking of Mac OS X.
        • Thank god there are women in the world who love geeks eh? But try to remember, friend, you and I are the lucky ones. Many young geeks go to bed alone.

    • Re:better than linux (Score:4, Funny)

      by Jekler (626699) on Thursday November 02 2006, @12:36AM (#16684937)

      I'm going to take a 6 month sabbatical to meditate on your words. There's just something deeply compelling about what you have to say that fills me with a sense of longing for a truer understanding of this wacky universe of ours.

      Thank you fellow scholar. You have changed me.

    • Actualy? Maybe. Though the latest release candidates were told to be the ones to test apps on, so I don't see them removing too much that could break apps that worked on the RCs, it HAS been MS' strategy as of late: Make feature full betas, see public reactions to them, and how much problems certain features cause, fix what they can, and take out what they cannot fix, to put it back in a service pack later.

      Visual Studio, Atlas/ASP.NET AJAX, and the stuff you mentionned, all seem to have followed that tre
      • This has always been their philosophy. More accurately, it has been to synchronize constantly with daily builds and stabilize frequently, but to focus on a ship date. Whatever features are finished by shipping time go in, whatever else just gets pushed to the next edition. As an iterative development process it makes sense. However, Vista reached gridlock because at some point (4000 developers is definitely past critical mass), having everybody check in their code at the end of the day is just going to brea
        • Indeed. As an added funny thing, I read on a few blogs of high ups at Microsoft: they had quite a few issues with outsourcing that slowed them down a lot (with the firms calling change of scope all over the place to avoid having to deliver). That must have hurt like a bitch, too.
    • I can't wait until January 30th of next year though! I have to have enjoyment crippling features like PVP DRM, and a mandatory startup jingle NOW! My "Vista Capable" new 64 bit computer is just dying to struggle under its weight too.

      Please Microsoft, isn't there any way you can bend me over further and give Vista to me harder?

    • Re:aka Corporate version (Score:4, Informative)

      by Overly Critical Guy (663429) on Thursday November 02 2006, @01:01AM (#16685099)
      The reason for this is that Microsoft wants to pretend it's shipping Vista in 2006, but no enterprise customers are going to install a brand new OS without months of testing. Microsoft knows this, so they're releasing to those customers, celebrating the faux RTM, then spending the next couple of months actually bugfixing and polishing Vista and "really" releasing next year on January 30.

      Don't let them fool you--Vista is being released on January 30th, 2007.
    • Actually, it's not that simple.

      The days of snagging your works (or a friends works) Volume Licence Key are over.

      Vista corporate licencing now has the OS pinging a Corporate Licence server which in turn keeps track of how many clients are out there, it then pings MS which greenlights whether that org is still within licencing terms or not. The actual system is a bit more in depth than that, but essentially that's how it works. If the client can't ping the licence server within 90 days, then the client goes i
    • Why is everyone so up in arms about upgrading? Its only $450

      You're joking, right? Some of us don't have that kind of cash to throw around on an unproven DRM laden OS that has been gutted of almost every cool feature that was originally supposed to go into it.

      Vista is much better than XP, by far.

      Care to elaborate on this point? Other than the eye candy, and DirectX 10 (more eye candy), what reason is there to get excited about Vista? XP at this point is a very stable, relatively secure OS with a sol

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Lisandro (799651)
            In most areas. What's lacking is a DirectX equivalent to woo over the game developers.

            Something like SDL [libsdl.org]? SDL is today a mature and stable library, already used by a lot of games, both commercial (notably the Unreal series) and OSS.

            In my experience, games suported both on Windows and Linux run awfully smoother on Linux, for some reason. Load times are also reduced by half.

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