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Last week it was announced that Vista would be delayed until November for corporate customers while the consumer versions would not appear until early 2007. There was further bad news for Microsoft customers when the company revealed that the delay in the release of Vista would have a knock on effect on the new version of Office which will also now be pushed back to 2007.

In the posting the anonymous employee complains 'We're missing the holiday sales market. Not only did we miss last year's opportunity, we're missing this year's opportunity, too'. He finally signed off with the call for heads to roll at Microsoft senior management with the comment 'People need to be fired and moved out of Microsoft today. Where's the freakin' accountability?'

The diatribe set off a lot of feeling amongst Microsoft employees with several demanding that Ballmer should head the list of people who should be fired from the company. One remarked: 'Being a 10+ year vet I feel ashamed and sad. This company is a mess on so many levels'.

Even more damning is the comment 'Vista - I wouldn't buy it with someone else's money. Then again what do I know, I've only been testing the dog for the last 2-3 yrs'.

However, the decision to let the Vista date slip does have its supporters within the Windows team. Another reply says 'If you had spent the last 5 years of your life grinding away to get this thing out the door, you would have realised the only thing worse than slipping the

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date, would have been to lay a turd in August. Those of us in the trenches see exactly what bugs are between us and shipping.'

Although the reasons for the delay are cited as beefing up the security of the product, there are said to be major problems in other areas of the code too - in particular the Media Centre (MCE) is said to be seriously flawed. One comment says 'why exactly IS MCE so bad? Didn't anyone test this puppy before kicking it out the door and having another PM party?'.

The Australian magazineSmarthouse quotes the Marketing Manager of Acer Australia as saying 'The decision to delay Vista into the consumer market will have an impact on hardware sales particularly in the Media Centre market. We have been told that Microsoft has bought in programmers from the Xbox team to work on the problems. We have also been told that up to 60 per cent of the code will have some form of re writing or changes made.' Microsoft has since vehemently denied the story.

While Microsoft struggles to get Vista in shape for its debut, here are already changes afoot at the software giant. Last Thursday, Microsoft undertook a major reshuffle of the flagship Platform Services Division (PSD). The current head of the Windows group Jim Allchin is retiring next year and his key position has been taken over by Steven Sinofsky who until now has been leading Office product development.

Although it is tempting to link the reshuffle to the recent delay in the launch of Vista, the movements in the top jobs have been planned for some time. Nevertheless, the promotion of Sinofsky who is recognised as a tougher manager than Allchin, will be due to his record of getting Office and its related products out on schedule. In contrast, the much delayed Windows Vista will be the first revision of the operating system since the release of Windows XP in 2001 and despite his announced retirement, Jim Allchin will leave as the man who couldn't get the OS out the door on time.