No Private Vistas - Computerworld:

"Think Microsoft Vista's latest schedule slip doesn't matter? Think again. Sure, last week's announcement -- that the next version of Windows won't be out in time for holiday sales -- is more an industry sideshow than a big deal for corporate IT. It'll stunt PC sales at the end of this year and give Microsoft-haters something more to bleat about. But for most IT shops, that delay just means we'll start testing Vista a little later.
Forget those details. Look at the big picture, and you'll see a nasty object lesson in what happens when you (and others) put too much trust in your ability to deliver software.
That's what Microsoft executives did. That's also what vendors and IT industry pundits did, which is why words like 'bombshell' and 'unthinkable' are being tossed around to describe the 'Vista slips' announcement. They believed. They trusted.
They shouldn't have.
Vista is the most complicated software product in Microsoft's history, incorporating higher- quality standards and a new approach to software projects -- and facing the same old 'keep piling on the new features' culture. That's nothing to inspire confidence in a firm delivery date. "