Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, completed the test version of its Windows Vista operating system as it works to deliver the program to consumers by January.
The test version, called a release candidate, was made available to about 15,000 Microsoft customers and partners on Friday, Kevin Kutz, a director in Microsoft's Windows group, said in an interview.
More than 500,000 others will get access on Tuesday, Jim Allchin, co-president of platform products and services, wrote in a letter on Friday posted on Microsoft's TechBeta Web site.
Already more than two years behind schedule, Microsoft plans to release Vista to corporate customers in November before the software becomes generally available in January. Whether it makes that deadline will depend on feedback from the current round of testing, said Joe Wilcox, a Kensington, Maryland-based analyst at JupiterResearch.
"Microsoft is committed to making its deadlines, but the decision is now out of Microsoft's hands," Wilcox said in an interview. "It's up to the testers and what they find."
A further delay may cost the company hundreds of millions in revenue, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said in July. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is working to finish on time and may offer discounts on upgrades so customers won't postpone holiday PC purchases because the machines don't contain Vista.
Amazon.com Inc is already taking orders for Vista on its Web site. The online retailer lists the price for Vista Ultimate, the most expensive retail product, at US$399 for a full version and US$259 for an upgrade. An upgrade to the most basic home version costs US$100.
Microsoft declined to confirm the prices.
"The operating system is in great shape," Allchin said. "There's still a lot of testing to do."
He asked technical customers getting the release to "put the pedal to the metal and send us feedback."
The holdup is already expected to shave US$4 billion in revenue from PC industry sales this year, according to market research firm Gartner Inc.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS