More delays for Vista and Office

The next workplace software revolution is coming. But it's coming slowly.

If you take an interest in such things, you may be aware Microsoft is close to launching a new operating system, Windows Vista, and a new suite of work software applications, Office 2007.

Yes, the software platform more workers stare at than any other is getting a makeover.

The problem is Microsoft's new offerings have been plagued with delays.

Delay announcements out of Microsoft HQ have been as prolific as, well, software patches emanating from the same part of Washington.

The latest advisory was released just last week. Microsoft said it now aims to launch Office 2007 (available for the Mac as well as the PC) to business customers by the end of this year, rather than October, as previously announced.

The general (non-business) release of the package - which includes ubiquitous programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint - will now not be until some time early next year (it had previously been set for January).

Does this matter to you as an Office/Windows user? Probably not as much as it matters to Microsoft.

Back in 1995 people queued outside New Zealand stores at midnight to be the first to get their hands on Windows 95. These days we're a bit more blase about new software releases.

But for the world's largest IT company, the ongoing delays in releasing the latest updates of its two flagship products are an ever-worsening financial and public relations headache.

Office and Windows account for more than half of Microsoft's total revenue.

Previously announced Vista delays have already pushed out the product's launch date past the all-important Christmas shopping period. That means Microsoft will miss a huge sales opportunity, particularly in the North American market where a significant proportion of computer sales happen over the 'holiday' season.

One analyst told Reuters the latest Office delay would have little effect on businesses, because most were unlikely to deploy the new software before the end of this year anyway. It could, however, be another blow to Microsoft's image.

"It may not instil much confidence with some customers," he said.

Microsoft says the delay in getting Office onto the market is because extra time is needed to incorporate improvements from early customer feedback into the software suite.

A "beta" test version of the product has been available for download off the internet and 2.5 million users have taken the opportunity to trial it.

As a result of their feedback, Microsoft's programmers wanted to "give themselves a bit more time to make the product as good as it can possibly be," a company spokeswoman was quoted as saying.

While the software development process may become painfully laborious as a result, it is encouraging that Microsoft takes such an approach to the refinement of Office.

The alternative, of course, would be releasing an untested product that failed to meet user requirements and flopped as a result.

Personally, I'm happy to chip in towards Microsoft's ongoing product improvement. Hardly a day goes by that I'm not invited to submit an internet report to the company because one of their applications has just crashed, and I'm always willing to pass the details on.

My enthusiasm doesn't extend as far as those 2.5 million self-appointed beta testers who have had the patience to download the Office test version. I admire their commitment.

Fortunately there is a cheat's way of sneaking a peak at Office 2007, however. Using the link below it is possible to run a web-based simulation of the suite's various applications without downloading them.

It's a clever little "test drive" package which will give you a feel for what the swept-up Office will eventually look like once Microsoft release it and you or your company get around to buying it.

And the verdict from the test drive? The 2007 version is pretty much more of what we've become used to with Office but with more bells and whistles.

Email and business life organisation program Outlook, for example, is enhanced with new customer-tracking features to boost your sales and marketing efforts.

An interesting commercial development with the new programmes is the addition of "learn" and "buy" help links on various topics. These direct users to Microsoft web pages offering, respectively, information and the opportunity to purchase related software.

This is a clever marketing ploy on Microsoft's part and could well make up for that lost Christmas sales opportunity.