Microsoft announced a delay in its shipment of Vista. It screws up Christmas plans for the consumer PC market. From an enterprise perspective, though, if indeed the delay is due to quality reasons, it is a reason to celebrate, given the software industry's poor quality track record. The term "bleeding edge" was not created without reason.
I have written before of the need to melt the software "iron triangle". But we are seeing a version of the Bernuda Triangle here. Lots of things vanish there. In Microsoft's case. it has been $ 20 billion in R&D in the last 3 years and mostly delays and problems in output. Microsoft looks particularly bloated compared to cycles of 37Signals, Google and others. That worries CIOs more than not been able to make sure their kids get Vista for Christmas.
