At Microsofts worldwide partner conference this week, Microsoft finally admitted that Longhorn wont see the light of day until 2006.
This isnt a guess on my part, educated or otherwise. Or flame bait. Or conjecture. This is straight from the horses mouths.
At the show this week, several Microsoft execs casually slipped into their presentations that Longhorn is three years away from debut. Last time I did the math, that was not 2005, as promised just a few months ago. Nor is it even the wishy-washy “2005+” that a few execs had taken to attaching to their product timetables. The new target is 2006, plain and simple.
Did the company think no one would notice? Or maybe after all that Abita beer on draft served up at the Friday night partner party at the House of Blues, that no one could count?
Maybe Microsoft is assuming that tacking another year onto a product thats already far from debut wouldnt matter. But if Longhorn client is three years away, that means the rest of the Longhorn wave also is three years from cresting.
To read the full column, go to Microsoft Watch.