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Vista's Nov 1st Delivery Date To Run Late?

Word on the www regarding a possible Vista delivery delay, and Ballmer's recent interview on Vista.

The Microsoft Vista delivery date (November 1st) is rumored to have been affected by a new bug that troubled the OS, possibly leading to some delay. The alleged bug in Windows Vista Build 5824 would crash and force users to reinstall; by B5840 it was fixed, but it still delayed ready-to-ship operations.

Some say that November 1st will actually be November 8th, while the business version will struggle to make it by end-November.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, while interviewed by Mercury News, said that Vista will "make it out on time worldwide as announced."

Regarding the post-holiday consumer version debut, Steve Ballmer expressed confidence in the way the public will embrace Vista, even if it will miss Christmas 2006 and New Year:

"I don't think it will have much impact on Christmas sales in large measure because of the tech guarantee that we announced yesterday which I'm sure you noted. Basically, you can get a Vista machine now and still get Vista later."

Regarding the many versions Vista will ship in, Ballmer explained that this will support OEMs in finding the right mix between their hardware and Microsoft's software, so that both can benefit; Ballmer said that obviously there will and should be differences between different OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), an advantage for all three parties (Microsoft, OEMs, and customers).

As for competitors, Microsoft's CEO said that Apple is a respected company, but still there are no reasons to worry on Apple's Jaguar. Vista's competitor will be its brother, Windows XP SP2, which controls an impressive marketshare, having excellently met customer's expectations.