MICROSOFT’S next Windows operating system remains at risk of being delayed as the US software group conducts its biggest public testing programme.

Windows Vista, which will succeed the company’s Windows XP operating system, is due to be launched next month for corporate customers and early next year for consumers. Its success is seen as vital to Microsoft’s future.

However, there is increasing speculation that testing of the new product will reveal unforeseen problems that could delay the launch.

The company has released a “final beta” version of Vista, known as Release Candidate 1 (RC1), which could be the final test version of the software before its formal release.

The software has been made available by download to millions of users already, with talk of plans to give away a further two million copies on computer magazine covers.

David Bradshaw, principal analyst for Ovum, the technology research group, said that delays to the full release of Vista remained a danger, noting that such testing programmes are becoming increasingly normal. He said that public testing programmes were useful in highlighting problems of compatibility, where the software fails to work properly with certain printers, software programs or hardware.

Although the discovery of a problem could force a rewrite, Mr Bradshaw said, “it would have to be a pretty major problem to derail (the release)”.

Specialist reviewers have broadly welcomed the release as an improvement on the previous test version of Vista, offering users a more polished feel. RC1 is much quicker to install, more secure, throws up fewer compatibility problems with hardware and runs faster.

Yet user feedback continues to present potential problems for Microsoft developers. David Vronay, a research manager for Microsoft, told users on a company blog that the RC1 test programme was intended to get “lots of people spending time tracking down the minor errors and glitches that haven’t historically been ‘ship-stopping’ but certainly contribute to a feeling that things are not polished”.

It remains a possibility that the company will release a further test version of the software before its mainstream launch.

The scale of the testing programme has been made possible by the growth of fast internet connections, which allow users to download the software in a reasonable time, often at no extra cost.

Mr Bradshaw said that the testing programme was also a great marketing tool. The RC1 software will stop working on June 1, 2007, by which point users will have had up to nine months of use and will have to return to their previous software or pay to upgrade their systems.

Microsoft continues to wrangle with the European Commision over the extent to which the Competition Commissioner’s interest in Vista could delay shipment. Both Symantec and Adobe, the US software groups, have raised concerns over the inclusion in Vista of software that rivals their own offerings.

McAfee, a Symantec rival, has today taken out newspaper advertisements claiming that Vista’s security features are “misguided”.

The Commission is understood to have widened its investigation after complaints by small software developers over Microsoft’s plans to include other features in Vista, including handwriting recognition.

Matt Bishop, a senior Microsoft director, said demand for the test version had been strong. “The more feedback we can capture in the early stages, the better,” he said.

HICCUPS

Jan 2007: first consumer versions of Vista due

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