45 more days... oh, c'mon!

Robert McLaws writes that apparently pushing back the launch date for Vista 45 more days (enough time for a Beta 3) should do the trick at stabilizing and working out the current issues for Vista.

My comment? Oh please! All the stuff that Robert notes as the things that are wrong with Windows Vista that, he thinks (hopes, rather), can be resolved in that month and a half are stuff that has plagued Windows since the 95 version. The reasons for that stuff is that Window's still monolithic appearing not to be, it's still built upon a browser, the UI is still being designed by engineers (not industrial designers, like it should be), it's still violating every other standard out there to make it impossible to manage. The fact that they are still caring for a launch date, instead of development, makes it obvious that Microsoft is still a business first, a monopoly second, and a software developer third.

A Beta 3 would only stall a launch date, make the users see that this company can't get its act together after all this time, and that, again, Microsoft cannot keep its promises.

But OK, let's say that it's necessary to push the launch date for the sake of the product (and the users, of course)... why only a month and a half? If you want to get it right, push it six whole months, or a year, for that matter. This stuff that you want to resolve won't be resolved in 45 days; it hasn't been resolved in two years! How the hell do you think that another 1080 hours would matter? Microsoft has already pushed it almost a whole year from it's original launch date, why not another, or two? Hell, why not even launch XP SP3 in the process?

If you want an amazing product, the first thing that you need to decide is what's more important: your reputation or your users? Both of them are very important and mutually dependent... Robert wants to mantain both with his comments: delay it, but not too much. I say: if you want a great product, delay it, big time, enough to get your act together; if you want to keep what little good reputation you have left, go for it and keep at least one of your promises! In my opinion, I'd recommend to get your act together and delay it again for a whole year: do a Beta 4, debug your ass off, and show the real abilities of Microsoft... Lord help us if the Beta 2 was it!