Microsoft Delays Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Virtualization

You have to imagine that this will hurt Microsoft, at least in the Virtualization space.  With no true product out to compete with the now public VMware, Microsoft is falling behind quicker than it could imagine.  During the time that people wait for WSV, VMware will be closing Enterprise Agreements with their large accounts that will limit what impact, if any, WSV will have.  If everyone is running VI3 in the data center, why switch?  And that’s only bringing up VMware, not even thinking about what offering Citrix could have for their key named accounts and partners.

Thanks to vmblog.com for this information:

Microsoft revealed Aug. 29 that it will not release Windows Server 2008, the successor to Windows Server 2003, on time.

In a posting to the company’s TechNet site, a Microsoft spokesman confessed that “Windows Server 2008, which we have been saying would Release to Manufacturing (RTM) by the end of the calendar year, is now slated to RTM in the first quarter of calendar year 2008.”

The blogger quoted Program Manager Alex Hinrichs as saying, “It just needs a little more time to bake.”

The delay cannot come as much of a surprise to customers and partners, who have watched the Redmond, Wash., giant stumble out of the gate with new product introductions, most recently Vista.

However, the delay also affects Microsoft’s Viridian hypervisor, which Microsoft previously said would ship 180 days after Windows Server 2008. This delay further pushes the introduction of this crucial piece of technology until the end of 2008 or even 2009, noted John Abbott, an analyst with the 451Group, based in London.

So while the delay may not affect customers, it will certainly have an impact on some partners and at least one big competitor.

Microsoft Delays Windows Server 2008 : VMblog.com – Virtualization Information