Microsoft delays Office 2007 again

by admin June 29, 2006 at 4:40 pm

Microsoft said Thursday that it is making another slight delay to the planned arrival time for Office 2007, citing performance concerns with recent test versions.

The software maker now plans to finish the code for the revamped Office suite by the end of the year, with a mainstream launch in “early 2007.” It said in March that the product would be ready by this October, but said at the time it was delaying the retail availability until January, in order to jointly launch the product with Windows Vista. That operating system update has also seen postponements.

“Based on internal testing and the beta 2 feedback around product performance, we are revising our development schedule to deliver the 2007 system release by the end of year 2006, with broad general availability in early 2007,” a Microsoft representative said in an e-mail. “Feedback on quality and performance will ultimately determine the exact dates.”

It was not immediately clear how the Office delay would affect Microsoft’s Vista plans or a potential joint product launch. Many outsiders have already said they expect the Windows update to also be delayed beyond January, but Microsoft has yet to acknowledge a further delay.

“We are assessing the impact this timing change will have to our specific launch plans,” a Windows unit representative said, adding that Microsoft is “still targeting January for general consumer availability.”

Full story: c|net News.com