Despite Delays, Microsoft promises Next wave of Software is Worth the Wait

Nothing embodies both the potential and the challenge of the business impact next wave of Microsoft applications will have quite like the constant delays of the full launch of Vista, the newest operating system (their first in roughly 4 years, replacing Windows XP). Around Vista, is a whole sweet of (in the Microsoft tradition) inter-operable business and desktop applications, from Office 12 (replacing Office 2003), and a slew of business applications - focused on collaboration, unified communications (via a partnership with the likes of Nortel for VOIP), and Business Intelligence. Microsoft is promising to continue to pursue something it has thus far done successfully - bringing what used to be considered “Enterprise” level functionality to the Small and Medium sized business unit. (I mean - how many companies and departments under 200 employees do you hear about running Business Intelligence / Analytics?) Only time will tell when these products are in full (post-beta) release, and how they are priced - which will directly effect adoption by the market they are most trying to attract.