Windows 7 is finished, on time. Ready to take on Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Snow Leopard and make the industry forget about Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chrome OS.
Well, OK. We needn't get ahead of ourselves. But I can't be the only one surprised by this, right? As good as Windows 7 appears, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a long history of being late with Windows upgrades. Vista, fortunately just a bad dream now, suffered numerous delays. And yet here we are in July, and Windows 7 is code complete.
"It feels great to be here on time," Tami Reller, the Windows unit's chief financial officer, told News.com's Ina Fried. I'll bet it does. That's not something we see from Redmond often.
Please don't take that as a dig. Microsoft has a huge job when it comes to upgrading Windows, a decades-old operating system with millions of lines of code. Delays are to be expected with such complex, technology-driven products.
And it's not as if Microsoft is alone. Mr. Softy's Seattle-area neighbor, Boeing (NYSE:BA), still hasn't realized its 787 Dreamliner. Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO) is late with BioShock 2. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in May announced yet another delay in the launch of its latest Itanium processor.
This time, a new and improved Mr. Softy is ahead of them all. Kudos, sirs. The on-time sweater looks good on you. Here's hoping that you get to keep wearing it.
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