Did Meaningless Ship Dates Get Leaked?
Sometimes, stories like the one I'm about to bring you turn out false. But I'll proceed in assuming it's true. Apparently, an ex-Microsoft worker inadvertently posted release dates for nearly all important products Redmond is working on.
Here's a rundown of the leaked dates: Windows 8 will be out July 2011, Office 2012 a year later, and SQL Server 2011 in -- you guessed it -- 2011!
These dates may be real Microsoft dates, but software is software. As a young journalist, I liked nothing better than to clobber companies for missing dates. Now that I've been doing this for 25 years, I've learned a thing or two about software. For one, I still can't write it, and for two, it's unfair of me to be critical when people who can write it take longer than they thought they would to finish.
My hunch? Real or not, these dates are meaningless. Do you care about or believe release dates? Express yourself at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on January 29, 2010