Vista delay is back to the future for Redmond

Charlie Cooper,
Executive Editor/Commentary

Say what?

That's my G-rated reaction to Microsoft's stunning announcement that it won't ship the already-delayed consumer version of its Vista operating system. As company honchos gathered throughout Silicon Valley on Tuesday to mull over what this will mean to their futures, it's safe to assume their expressions were a bit more pungent.

Once the shock wears off, executives are sure to have very frank discussions with their counterparts in Redmond. It's been quite some time since the computer business had a wow product it could rally around and offer to customers as an incentive to upgrade. These folks were counting on Vista.

In Microsoft's view, this is simply a decision to delay the ship date by a few weeks. But it's much more.

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Charlie Cooper, Executive Editor/Commentary

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