Can something never announced actually be called delayed to market?

Michael Gartenberg | July 23, 2007, 11:09 AM

I was listening to an analyst speak about Microsoft's delays in delivering Service Pack 1 for Vista and that having an impact on the company. Really? Is it possible we now slam a company for not delivering something on time that they've never even committed to delivering?

Twelve years ago next month, I wrote a research report with a recommendation that business users stay away from Windows 95 until the first service pack was released and put a hypothesis out when that might happen. (it turned out to be accurate and good advice.) Today, the job is easier. If a vendor doesn't do what you want them to do, just ding them for not making it happen when you said they would.

In the case of Vista, it's pretty silly. Yes, there are issues with Vista as there are in any and all complex operating systems. Yes, it will continue to improve over time but there's no need for folks to wait to deploy until there's a service pack and certainly no artificial pressure on Microsoft to create one.