No No No! Damnit No! Damn!
I believed. Like a stupid little idiot I believed.
Microsoft has announced Office 2007 will be delayed to 2007.
Arghh!
Hot on the heels of the word that Windows Vista won’t show its much-delayed head until January 2007, Microsoft has announced Office 2007 will also ship around the same time. They’ve also announced the full restructuring of the Platforms and Services Division.
Like the Vista delay, Volume Licensing customers will get Office a little earlier than you’ll see it on store shelves and in new PCs. Mary Jo Foley says that despite the Office delay, company insiders are optimistic about Office chief Steven Sinofsky being able to bring stability and reliability to the Windows division when he moves over in January.
I was so convinced this was going to be the year of Microsoft. I was convinced they were well on schedule to get out Office 2007 and Windows Vista in time to make a huge splash, that this year was going to end with a big success story. That could always happen, but it won’t happen this year, and delays usually make that sort of thing less likely.
More importantly, I really thought they had their shit together. Damn.
Didn’t we all. And I’m a shareholder.
Comment by Bob | March 23, 2006
Well, they were going to call it 2007, but releasing anything sales oriented in January is a bitter pill to swallow.
I have been holding to the notion that 2007 would be their year, if any. If they had released the consumer version in November than they could have got a service back out by the end of Q12007, now it’s more like Q2 and maybe Q3 … not good.
Comment by TDavid | March 24, 2006
2006 is the year of Microsoft. Most people are still generally satisfied with Windows XP, in my experience.
To me, Microsoft’s new course seems to be sponsored by Intel or something. Bloated. I’m still sick of the DRM. The design choices. The big company that doesn’t listen, just like Google doesn’t, now.
This blog is awesome. I can just keep replying with my annoyances. Hope it doesn’t bother you
Comment by Tim | March 24, 2006
http://my.opera.com/djysrv/blog/show.dml/187731
I don’t believe it is just about marketing. As someone who was involved in negotiating an enterprise agreement with Microsoft in 2005 for a site with 5,500 desktops, my view is the competitive challenge for Microsoft is the quality of the currently installed base. Windows XP and Office 2003 work well enough for a lot of people. Why would an enterprise upgrade? Now that the agreement is up again for renewal, I’ve recommended to our management that we consider StarOffice8 at $50 a pop for anyone who doesn’t absolutely need ALL the features of Office 2007. For garden variety personal computing, the difference for about half the installed base would be between $0.5 and $1M net savings. I think that competitive challenge is a real issue for Microsoft.
Comment by Ohadi Langis | March 25, 2006