By Suzanna Kerridge, 1 July 1998 14:27
NEWS Windows NT 5 has been delayed again, as Microsoft attempts to iron out bugs which have been unearthed during development. Microsoft CEO and chairman, Bill Gates, claimed there is a "high probability" the operating system will not ship before the first half of next year. The second beta has been delayed from July until late summer, pushing back the release of Beta 3 until the end of this year. Mike Nash, director of marketing for Windows NT Server, claimed the company is going "milestone by milestone". Ian Bramley, analyst at Butler Group, said this is "perfectly usual". Bramley added: "Operating systems are complicated beasts and this one has a lot of major functions - there are over 10 million lines of code. It's better for people using it to get it right rather than release it with a lot of issues outstanding." Bramley claimed Microsoft is taking no chances with NT5 as its future Windows strategy depends on NT. "Microsoft has to be particularly cautious because it has a history of unstable releases and is very determined to get away from this with Windows NT," he said. However, Bramley claimed functionality within Beta 2 will be "more or less complete" but advised companies not to base their systems on it until the official Windows NT 5 was released.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below