Office 2007 launch date slips

By Steve Malone

Posted on 30 Jun 2006 at 12:42

Microsoft has admitted that Office 2007 is running behind schedule. Earlier this year, Microsoft promised that the new version of the productivity suite would ship to volume customers in October 2006 with retail availability in January 2007 - roughly in line with the current release schedule for the Vista operating system.

The new release dates are far more vague. Microsoft is now only talking about large volume 'release by the end of year 2006, with broad general availability in early 2007'. The company is giving no specific details as to why the slippage has occurred. In an emailed statement Microsoft says 'At this time we have no additional details or information to share'.

However, the statement adds that the revision is 'Based on internal testing and the beta 2 feedback around product performance' and that 'Feedback on quality and performance will ultimately determine the exact dates'.

However, given that both Vista and Office are supposed to be released broadly in step, the announcement has led to further speculation that the release dates of the new version of the operating system might also be in jeopardy. Currently Microsoft is standing by its stated plans to release the volume version of the new operating system in November with the home user version launching in January 2007.