Microsoft on schedule to ship consumer Vista editions in January

Businesses will get their copies this month

9 November 2006 11:51 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Microsoft is on schedule to release Vista to consumers on 30 January, says Microsoft’s co-president, Jim Allchin.

Its volume license customers will get business versions of Vista by the end of November, while consumers will have to wait a few more months. Microsoft has already announced its upgrade coupon plan for PC buyers between October and March who purchase Windows machines to get a copy of Vista, to ensure that PC manufacturers don’t face a slump in buying during the Christmas season.

Microsoft is pushing hard the security aspect of Vista, calling it the securest platform yet; however, it’s faced opposition from security software developers who feel that Microsoft is trying to lock them out of the system.

Allchin said during the conference call, “We’ve added defense or depth…so that even if there is a vulnerability, it’s harder or impossible to get to it. In my opinion, it is the most secure system that is available and it’s certainly the most secure system that we’ve ever shipped”.