Text 12818, 113 rader
Skriven 2006-09-02 20:46:28 av /m (1:379/45)
Ärende: Rush Testing Is Under Way for Microsoft’s New System
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From: /m <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/technology/02soft.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=
slogin

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FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 — Microsoft rushed what may be the final test version of its
Windows Vista operating system to more than a million testers on Friday, trying
to meet deadlines for its long-delayed commercial release.

With pressure mounting to squeeze out final bugs, Microsoft asked testers to
give Vista an urgent shakedown — even as they headed into a long holiday
weekend.

Microsoft has said publicly that it is hoping to offer the program to corporate
customers before the end of November and to the broader consumer market in
January.

It will be the first new version of Windows in more than five years, an
unusually long time between releases. But Microsoft executives have also
repeatedly cautioned that until Vista meets performance and stability
standards, the company will refrain from offering it commercially.

On Friday, several analysts said that the Microsoft program might end up
slipping further from the November goal. Microsoft has recently been talking
about an “end of the yearö shipping goal for the corporate version of Vista,
according to one analyst who was briefed on Thursday.

A company spokesman disputed the reports of further slippage, saying that the
company was still aiming to meet the November and January goals.

Because most large corporations may wait as long as 18 months before deploying
the program widely to employees, a relatively short further delay is unlikely
to have a significant revenue impact on Microsoft.

“Corporate adoption will be relatively slow,ö said Roger L. Kay, president of
Endpoint Technologies Associates, a computer industry consulting firm. “It
could be 2008 before many companies actually deploy in volume.ö

Over the summer, Vista has been tested by several million developers and
ordinary users and has received less than stellar marks. Complaints have ranged
from repeated crashes to an irritating user interface that constantly force
users to click on warning boxes.

A recent version being used by a smaller group of technical experts has been
given much higher marks for stability and for using less computer memory.

Friday’s version, called Release Candidate 1, or RC1, is a crucial last trial
needed to tell the company whether it is on track.

“This is supercritical for us,ö said Sven Hallauer, director of release
management for Windows Vista, during an internal interview that was posted
Friday on a company Web site. “We have our own criteria for quality to ship,
but we really need the validation from the community.ö

Time is particularly tight, he said, because the company has only two or three
weeks after Friday’s release to make significant changes, after which the
project will grow increasingly constrained.

“Teams are working superhard right now,ö he said in the interview. “Teams are
working 50, 60, 70 hours a week to go ship this RC1 milestone.ö

In an e-mail message sent to testers Friday, Jim Allchin, co-president of
Microsoft’s platform and services division, wrote: “The operating system is in
great shape with RC1, but there’s still a lot of testing to do. You’ve come
through for us so far, and I’m asking you to once again put the pedal to the
metal and send us feedback.ö

Analysts said that while the company has made progress, there could still be
land mines that could throw the effort into disarray.

“They are never out of the woods until the product is delivered,ö said Al
Gillen, research director for system software at the International Data
Corporation, a market research firm based in Framingham, Mass.

This week, Microsoft declined to comment after pricing information appeared on
Amazon.com. The prices, which ranged from $199 for a basic home version to $399
for the all-in-one Windows Vista Ultimate, will potentially increase
Microsoft’s earnings next year, according to Rick Sherlund, a Goldman Sachs
financial analyst.

In a research note, he also cautioned that the significant hardware
requirements for the new operating system might limit the rate of adoption for
the software.

Vista will have an array of new features and changes in appearance from
Microsoft’s current operating system, Windows XP. Superfetch, for example, lets
Vista monitor the applications most frequently used and places them in memory
so that they will appear to load more quickly.

In the interview posted by Microsoft, Mr. Hallauer said Vista would have fewer
dreaded “blue screens of death,ö in which the operating system freezes and
leaves the user with a blue display screen. Instead, Vista will automatically
recover from such freezes and start over, without forcing the user to restart
the system manually.
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One would think that Microsoft would have enough user interface experience by
now that they would not develop an "irritating" user interface for an OS that
has been in development for how long?  6 years? 5 years?.   The problem is that
Microsoft is trying to put the
appearance of security on a fundamentally insecure architecture.

It is also nice to know that Microsoft's solution to the BSOD is to have the
computer reboot all but itself.  Now, *that* is innovation.

   /m

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