"The purpose of announcing early like this is to freeze the market at the OEM and ISV level. In this respect it is JUST like the original Windows announcement...
"One might worry that this will help Sun because we will just have vaporware, that people will stop buying 486 machines, that we will have endorsed RISC but not delivered... So, Scott, do you really think you can fight that avalanche?"
--Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft
Summary: Microsoft's next operating systems for desktops and mobiles are still in "vapourware" status, but Microsoft uses these to "freeze the market"
OUR coverage of "Windows 8" vapourware has already shown ludicrous ideas that Microsoft is so famous for. Classic examples include WinFS. Microsoft consistently over-promises and under-delivers. Veterans in this industry have already become familiar with those tricks, so they can assume Microsoft is Pinocchio and thus reject Vista 7 ahead of its release.
Now that
businesses ponder skipping Vista 7 (
some take a look at GNU/Linux), Microsoft must immediately create an illusion of inevitability for
the Vista* family (Vista 7 is just Vista with a .1 at the end). The Vista 8 hype
carries on:
Windows 8, and So It Begins
[...]
Just in October, Microsoft mentioned Windows 8 in a number of job posts...
Ars Technica also
plays along and participates in vapourware, again. Our reader Goblin presents
a skeptic's point of view:
Did you buy Vista?
Did you then buy 7 to replace Vista because it wasn’t fit for purpose?
well-done! Now start saving for Windows 8! Microsoft is allegedly looking for a Senior Program Manager for Windows 8 (amongst other roles).
Remember what Microsoft was telling you about Vista when it wanted you to buy it? Well, forget all that because now it wants you to buy 7, its forget Vista and buy 7...
Yes, Microsoft always talks about future versions. Its
secret manuals [PDF] indicate that "In the face of strong competition, Evangelism's focus may shift immediately to the next version of the same technology, however. Indeed, Phase 1 (Evangelism Starts) for version x+1 may start as soon as this Final Release of version X."
Microsoft uses the same tactics in hope of revitalising the
failing Windows Mobile (WM) franchise. WM 7 is currently the vapourware of WM because
WM 6.5 was largely rejected and Sidekick was essentially killed by a recent catastrophe that will keep carriers away from now on. See:
When it comes to WM 7, other than estimated date of arrival, little or nothing at all is said about how/why it can turn things around. It won't. In
a new article from CRN, Windows Mobile is being labeled "Microsoft's new Vista". It's
not a
compliment.
Microsoft's channel partners, meanwhile, are seeing dwindling demand for Windows Mobile-related business. "We've stopped working with Windows Mobile because our client base isn't asking for it," said Stuart Crawford, business development manager at Bulletproof Infotech, a solution provider in Red Deer, Alberta. "We've gone to Blackberry internally, and we're seeing a lot of clients asking for iPhone. I'm a strong Microsoft advocate, but there are too many challenges with Windows Mobile."
So Windows Mobile -- just like Sidekick -- may have missed its window of opportunity. One of the fastest-growing platforms in this area is Linux/Android.
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