Microsoft not ready to set release date for new operating system

San Francisco - Microsoft hedged its bets on the promised release date of its heralded Vista operating system, leaving a cloud of uncertainty in the investment community, analysts said on Friday.

Microsoft has already delayed the Vista shipping date several times, much to the chagrin of financial markets and computer industry associates that wanted the new software available for the Christmas shopping season.

The new Vista target dates were set at November for business customers and January for personal computer users.

"We're going to ship the product when it's ready," Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, said during a Thursday conference with analysts at the Redmond, Washington, company.

"We go milestone by milestone. Product quality is job one."

Johnson added that staying true to the release schedule depended on feedback from millions of users testing the software.

"We are incorporating that feedback," Johnson said. "At this point in time, there is no data or information that says we are not going to make the November business availability or the January consumer availability."

The blurring of the release dates came as Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer stressed to analysts that Microsoft favored long-term strategies even if it meant profits suffered in the short term.

"Microsoft's not a company that starts things and gives them up," Ballmer told analysts.

"We keep working on things...In a sense you could say we're not afraid of initial resistance to our efforts. Sometimes things take a longer period of time to really become successful than anybody might anticipate."

Microsoft recently announced it will take on Apple Computer's globally popular iPod MP3 player and iTunes online music store this fall with its own version of the offerings branded "Zune."

The company has yet to turn a profit on its Xbox video gaming console, its first foray into the hardware business.

Analysts have gone on record with concerns Microsoft might be spreading itself too thin by launching an attack on iPod at the same time it was trying to get Vista to market.

"Microsoft is still hedging on availability of Vista," analyst Brent Thill of Citigroup bank wrote in an investment note following the conference.

"We still believe the product needs more time to bake and estimate a further slip."

Vista was to replace the Windows operating systems used in 90 per cent of the world's personal computers. Windows and Microsoft Office software were considered main pillars of the company's profitability.

While analysts did not expect any additional delay of the Vista release to hurt Microsoft's financial performance next year, they did express concerns about the possible effects of heavy investments in Internet-based services.

Microsoft has been investing in offering its software services online, which would eliminate the need for people to install and operate the software on their own machines, executives said at the conference.

Such a shift would likely result in expenditures and structural changes burdensome to long-term trading margins, wrote Jason Maynard of Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse maintained its "neutral" recommendation on Microsoft stock.

Microsoft's share price dipped slightly after the analysts conference but rose 1.59 per cent to 24.25 dollars by the close of trading in New York City on Friday.

Agence France Presse