29 January 2007 is the official date when Microsoft will make Windows Vista available for the general public. And the truth is that Windows Vista will NOT be ready by January 29, 2007. This does not however mean that Microsoft will fail to respect the deadline. It will not be the case, and the operating system will see the light of the store shelves in exactly 24 days.

Michael Silver, Research VP for Gartner wrote a blog post with the title "Will Vista be done by 30 January 2007?" His question is based on the fact that Microsoft has released Vista to manufacturing at the beginning of November. On November 8, 2006, to be more specific. Microsoft then made the operating system available to the company's Software Assurance customers via volume licensing, an event celebrated with an official launch at the NASDAQ headquarters in New York.

"Why am I asking if it will be done? Isn't it already done? Well, in a word, no. In past postings, we talked about the importance of Microsoft Update (MU) to Vista's launch. The reality is that Microsoft could not have shipped Vista in November if real people were going to be using it en masse for real things right away. With consumers not getting Windows Vista until 30 January 2007, and most businesses just "kicking its tires' (if that) over the holidays, Microsoft and the Windows ecosystem have an 11-week extension between RTM and actual use. That Microsoft and the ecosystem are ready for the 30 January consumer availability is much more important than that they made their 2006 RTM goal," commented Silver.

Let me explain. When Michael Silver says that Windows Vista is not done, and when I said that the operating system will not be ready by the end of January 2007, we are referring to the drivers that are shipping with Windows Vista.

Jim Allchin, Microsoft Co-President, Platform and Services Division, has addressed this subject all the way back in November 2007. Allchin talked then about updating the brand new Windows Vista. And in this sense, Vista will never be complete. Indeed, Microsoft has integrated 19,500 device drivers into the operating system, and has made an additional 11,700 drivers available via Windows Update on the RTM of Vista. But the Redmond Company will continually provide application compatibility updates via WU.

"Microsoft and the ecosystem need to be ready for the 30 January consumer launch. People want a stable system with devices they can use. Coupled with the security issues that have already surfaced, Microsoft and the ecosystem need to provide complete and stable driver support by launch, or Windows Vista will have a difficult time overcoming some troublesome first impressions," added Silver.