Windows Vista may slip schedule, again...

Its been delayed so often that it is becoming a joke. Ballmer has said that the consumer launch (which means for people like you and me) could slip further based on feedback from beta release program and product road maps from hardware vendors. What it really means is there are many many bugs still in Windows Vista and that the hardware requirements are so high and / or that the hardware vendors have not yet figrued out a working configuration for Windows Vista.

Let's assume that Microsoft will finally release the OS sometime next year (let's say April 2007). Why should I buy the OS? Just because it is new and Microsoft will not support older versions? Maybe. But what if it's going to pinch my purse as a home users too tightly? Or it does not match upto expectations? Why shouldn't I move to Linux or even Mac? What does a home user really need when using PCs? Internet, browser, office applications. That's it. There are some people who play games... Serious gamers. But then that's a small percentage of user community.

All the above applications are available on other OS in some form or other and at a lower cost. That is going to be a real possibility. So after so much of delays and slips, people may decide, "Why bother?". Microsoft might also want to ask the same question to themselves.