Microsoft's announced that Windows Vista will be delayed until January of next year for most
consumers. Some businesses will get an early crack at the OS this November, however.Other than Vista's touted advantages for gamers (and its enormous technical requirements), we care about a delay because certain games may not release, run, or run "optimally" with anything less than Vista, including Halo 2 for the PC, MS Flight Simulator X, and CryTek's Crysis ("the first DirectX 10-enabled game" for the new OS).
Of course, release plans, optimizations, and compatibilities could change from here till the end of 2006, but Microsoft will probably try to support its upcoming OS upgrade with as many titles as it can in the coming year. Vista was supposed to spark a new renaissance in PC gaming after its long and drawn-out development grind. At least corporate testers will get to check out the new version of Minesweeper before Christmas.
[Via Engadget]
See also:
- Windows Vista gaming - good, bad, or
ugly? [First beta period begins]
- Windows Vista gaming part II
- Microsoft to reverse PC gaming decline with Vista launch; won't be "killing off" PC gaming anymore
- Minesweeper's back in Windows Vista (aka "Longhorn")!
- MS Flight Simulator X screens are perty [& optimized for Vista]
- CryTek's Crysis to usher in DirectX 10 era
- Confirmed: Halo 2 coming to the PC, Vista only
- Windows Vista variations confirmed



















(Page 1) Reader Comments
Vista has been delayed for what... 4 years? Wasn't "Longhorn" supposed to come out in 2003, then in 2005, and then in 2006? And people criticized Sony for its "vaporware".
Reply
The determined early adopter with lots of cash will have a Vista Xmas if they want. If I were in Dell's position I'd be looking to arrange a Halo 2 bundle to go with those machines if Bungie is still on schedule to get it done by late November.
Reply
Meanwhile, Apple is usually praised for releasing new versions of OS X near annually.
Reply
Reply
The same cannot be said about XP. Only Mac users enjoy upgrading their OS every year. Businesses and home users that use Windows are more than happy to get their 4-5 years worth out of an OS before they have the stomach to upgrade hardware & software. This is probably the first Delay of Longhorn that anyone actually even cares about. That's mainly due to the fact that recently MS has released Beta's and people have been playing with Vista for some time now.
Reply
Reply
Again I say...the world is not clammoring for a Windows update...and IE update yes...but not a windows update. I can't wait till it comes myself but Businesses and most people won't find much reason to upgrade other than a shiny new interface.
Reply
I personally would rather several OS updates over a span of 5-6 years and that I can upgrade if I choose to instead of having the same stale OS for 5-6 years and then it's going to require a new computer by the time it comes out.
Reply
Reply
I was actually going to buy the OS too. Well the good thing though is that it will be one less thing I won't have to worry about buying in the October/November.
The last time I bought an OS was Win98/WinNT for a dual boot like 5-6 years ago.
Anyone know the general price of new Windows Operating Systems when they first come out?
Reply
XP is outdated. OS 10.0 came out before XP. Since then Apple has released seperate NEW OSes very different than 10.0 since then. Apple had 10.0 then 10.1 which is a NEW OS and cost money to upgrade. Then 10.2 then 10.3 then 10.4. Each increment was a purchaseable upgrade that was significantly faster and better and had WAY more features than the last. And from a DEV perspective was a complete over haul of OS X as a whole.
So YES Jon XP is outdated. Nothing has changed with that OS except its 2 patches that make it actually slower than the last patch and no new features were added.
Dont muddy the waters with [flame].
Reply
Maybe by the time Vista is out, a GOOD Vista-compatable PC will be rather cheap to buy.
Reply
Dashboard (in Vista btw), the F10/F11/F12 feature can be done with a 3rd party program, the dock bar, etc.
Reply
Mac Os X 10.1 Puma was a free update...
Reply
Trust me, my Mac Mini runs like a dog when I'm browsing, and it isn't even capable of half the features of Tiger, despite being bought after the OS launch.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Uhh... maybe because they are. Very significantly and noticeably so, too. Run 10.0 and 10.4 side by side. If you don't notice a huge speed difference, then you must be [flame].
Reply
Reply
Reply
Maybe it's good that they delayed vista so they can work on making it less like a fancied up turd.
Reply
To make it plain, Vista seeks to take the distanced approach of Linux by making virtual system files that can make changes but not harm the OS. So anytime a program asks to rewrite a system file it rewrites a file saved to a particular user folder. Delete the user and you delete the harmful effects. Its more mac like as its tied closer to the hardware like macs. This in ONLY because it emulates it through more powerful hardware requirements and the fact that modern gpus are much more programmable. So while Vista may seem to be closely tied the hardware from its speed, it just has high system requirements to begin with.
Reply
Reply