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Will Leopard get buried by Vista buzz?
Tuesday, October 24th, 2006
If you were counting on Leopard gaining an advantage from shipping before Vista, it looks like 
you’re out of luck. Vista is in its last test release before shipment, and historically, the final release candidate becomes the supported RTM (ready to market) product. OEMs and volume licensees are expecting November delivery of the finished Vista, and the onesie twosie, shrink-wrap buyers will see Vista early next year. Subscribers to MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network, Microsoft’s counterpart to the paid flavor of Apple Developer Connection) will probably get the RTM code sometime between those two dates.
I’m not being too cynical, am I, to suppose that despite all the long faces and equivocal mumbles by MS execs when asked about Vista availability, November was never really in doubt? I mean, it is nice to have your bases covered; no one would have been surprised or disappointed if Vista’s initial deliveries to VIPs slipped into ‘07. But Microsoft has been telegraphing impending availability to partners, developers and even end-buyers with marketing campaigns that talk up Vista as though it’s already gone platinum. It might as well have. Microsoft has pressurized the pipeline by teasing buyers and developers with seemingly uncertain availability. The media’s shameless mockery of Microsoft for having blown Longhorn/Vista targets time and again has helped generate pent-up interest in Vista by turning mere delivery of the OS into page one news. (watch the headlines; the word “finally” will work its way into a lot of story titles) Macworld: News: Will Leopard get buried by Vista buzz?
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