Microsoft News Tracker

In the wake of Microsoft’s surprise slip of the launch date for the Windows Vista operating system, there were a number of stories about underlying causes and resulting effects. One was the claim at Smarthouse Magazine that a “Microsoft insider” had revealed that up to 60% of the Vista code had to be rewritten. This understandably inspired Microsoft to quickly fire back, calling it “speculation” and with calls for firing the editor and reporter from Microsoft’s Robert Scoble.

Well, stay tuned for Round 2. Today from David Richards at Smarthouse comes Apple A Threat To Windows Vista. Re Write Confirmed:

Mr Raymond Vardanega, the Marketing Director, of Acer Australia has confirmed independently of SmartHouse Magazine that Microsoft is having major problems with its Vista operating system. He said “The decision to delay Vista into the consumer market will have an impact on hardware sales particularly in the Media Centre market. We have been told that Microsoft has bought in programmers from the Xbox team to work on the problems. We have also been told that up to 60% of the code will have some form of re writing or changes made. We are told that Microsoft is concerned at the impact that the delay will have on hardware manufacturers. We have raised our concerns directly with Microsoft”.

The Apple threat part has to do with Media Center as the rest of the article describes. Get ready for return fire from Microsoft – I’ll bet Mr. Vardanega’s phone is ringing already. Who knew a schedule slip could be so exciting?

Update: Phil Sim provides some background on David Richards and Smarthouse Magazine.