SEATTLE - Computer geeks who were hoping to find a PC featuring Microsoft Corp.’s brand-new operating system under the tree this December are going to be out of luck.
The Redmond software maker said Tuesday that it would delay the consumer release of the new system, dubbed Vista, until January 2007. It’s a move analysts said would hurt computer makers and retailers most of all, since they were likely looking forward to a new operating system to boost holiday sales.
Shares in Microsoft fell Wednesday on the news, dropping almost 3 percent in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Windows Vista is Microsoft’s first major update to the company’s flagship operating system since Windows XP was released in late 2001, meaning partners will be left with a fifth major holiday season without a new version of the operating system to promote. (MSNBC.com is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)
“It’s a much bigger deal for the computer makers than it is for anybody else,” said David Smith, a vice president with Gartner Inc.
A spokesman for Dell Inc. declined to comment on how the delay might affect sales. In a statement released by Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard Co. said it supported Microsoft’s decision to make quality a priority in scheduling the operating system’s release.
“It’s not the optimal situation, to be launching the next-generation version of Windows right after the big holiday sales season,” said analyst Joe Wilcox with Jupiter Research.
Microsoft will release some versions of the new operating system for big businesses in November as planned, but the consumer version will be postponed until January, said Jim Allchin, co-president of the Microsoft division that includes Windows.
MS Vista delayed
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