Bug Pushes Vista Out to November 8th

IntelliAdmin writes "Microsoft originally targeted October 25th for Vista's release to manufacturing, but a last-minute bug that 'took most of the Vista team by surprise' has caused an unexpected delay, said Ethan Allen, a quality assurance lead at a Seattle high-tech company that tests its products for Vista. Allen said the Vista team discovered the bug, which 'would totally crash the system, requiring a complete reinstall'. Vista now has a new RTM date of November 8th" A reader wrote in to point out this story originated with Paul Thurrott.

No wonder

[daeg]

That's what you get for hiring a furniture store for your quality assurance department.

Oh noes

[BuCKsWorld]

Crap, now I have to wait another 2 weeks to not buy it.

Too bad..

[JFlex]

its too bad they found it in time.. that would have made for a very good laugh.

Re:Oh noes

[tomstdenis]

I've pre-returned my copy already!

Tom

Big Bug

[tgpo]

They discovered that the default start page in IE was http://www.linux.com/ [linux.com]

Suicidal

[Incarnate13]

Vista: The OS so bad it tried to kill itself before release.

Missing from the article

[Lord_Slepnir]

A member of the QA team said "I regret that I have but one crash report to give for my company"

Another member of Ethan Allen's team added "Give me Vista, or give me death". When Microsoft asked on what authority they could make such demands, Allen replied "In the name of the great Jehovah, and the Continental Congress". Off the record, he also retorted "Come out, you son of an XP hack, or I'll smoke you out!"

(in case you don't get it) [wikiquote.org]

They needed to Enhance the Feature

[WillAffleckUW]

Remember, it's not a bug, it's a feature.

So the ship date was pushed back to allow them to Enhance the Feature.

Re:No wonder

[eosp]

(Insert Ballmer chair reference here.)

Re:No wonder

[Overzeetop]

Yup, that's excatly where I saw this one going. Something along the lines of:

How can a guy named Ethan Allen possibly be comfortable knowing his boss has a history of throwing furniture around?

Nov 8 of which year ?

[Tiger4]

Its good they caught this. I'd hate to see Microsoft's reputation for delivering quality software on time be shot to ribbons by a bug riddled delivery.

The Solution!

[BeeBeard]

From the article:

Allen said the Vista team discovered the bug, which "would totally crash the system, requiring a complete reinstall"...

I say just leave it in and call it a feature. :)

November 8?!?

[iCharles]

That's my daughter's birthday? Is that a good thing, or a bad thing.

Re:November 8?!?

[Jason Hood]

Depends, is she 18 on the 8th?

Great news

[RyoShin]

This will give Duke Nukem Forever more time to be finished.

Re:Heh, mod me insightful.

[dan828]

I do not believe that MS has spent enough time testing every facet of the new OS.

You're right. They should take a page from the crack developing team at 3dRealms and only release it "when it's done."

That way they will only ship only quality products.

Testing for Vista

[greysky]

a quality assurance lead at a Seattle high-tech company that tests its products for Vista

Is it just me or does this sound like testing for a disease or something? "Bad news. We got your blood tests back. You have Vista."

Re:They needed to Enhance the Feature

[Anonymous Coward]

Just one more "feature" that wont ship with vista.

V for Vista

[John.P.Jones]

Remember, remember the 8th of November...
The OS upgrade season and plot
I know of no reason
Why this Windows version should ever be bought

Re:Too bad..

[doodlebumm]

That would have made my year! I don't know that I would have survived the episode, though.

Marketing slogan: Install Vista today, and tomorrow, and the next day...

I suspect there will be something almost as disastrous for them that will make it into the release. We can only hope....

Re:Testing for Vista

[dantheman82]

Perhaps Steve Jobs should try this...

Warning: Your hard drive contains Vista! Would you like to:

a) Reinstall? {Say goodbye to your weekend and 1 GB of recent patches and updates}
b) Ignore {obviously does nothing}
c) Send a report to Microsoft {does nothing}
d) Cancel {does nothing}
e) Go wild! Try a Tiger or Leopard! {Recommended}

Vista Release

[Khammurabi]

Crap, now I have to wait another 2 weeks to not buy it.

I know it's a joke but I continually get the sense that the Vista release will go as follows:

Microsoft: Buy Vista Now!
World: Why should I?
Microsoft: Uh...because it's prettier and has DRM support?
World: No thanks, I'm happy with what I have now.
Microsoft: Please?
World: No.
Microsoft: Ballmer throws a chair in the new screensaver, and we dressed Gates up in a dress for the default background.
World: Really? Sign me up!
Microsoft: Really?
World: No.

(Months pass...)

Microsoft: WTS slightly used global software monopoly.
Google: 5 dollars and Gates in a diaper apologizing to the world.
Microsoft: Sold!

The Bug

[Cervantes]

I was chatting with some folks on the Vista team, and it turns out the bug is actually fairly interesting. Apparently the latest version of Windows Media Player infects the NT kernel with some DRM, and the only way to unlock them is to download your authorized user code from Microsoft.com... which unfortunately you can't do if you have a locked kernel.
Who woulda guessed?