Windows 7 to pull a Half-Life 2?

[Hawkflight]

Now, for those of you who have been living under a rock (or who aren't gamers), let me explain. Half-Life 2 was a highly anticipated game, as it followed on the heels of the wildly successful Half-Life. Unfortunately, the release date was pushed back ... what was it, a year? Some significantly long time, anyways ... because of problems with the source code (i.e. it was stolen, somehow ... don't ask me how).

Now, I'm not saying someone is going to steal the Windows 7 source code. But Microsoft has set a rather ambitious release date of mid-to-late 2009, less than three years after the release of Vista, which is quite a comparison to the five years it took to develop Vista. So my question to you, dear readers, is this: do you think that, due to problems in developing (i.e. being to hasty about it), the Windows 7 release date will be set back to 2010 or even later?

[Cody Howl]

Knowing Microsoft, they'll release Windows 7 somewhere around the time that Vista is finally debugged enough to replace XP. Then the Hype/ Problem/ security issue/reliability cycle stars all over again. Remember how long it took to get '95 working, does anyone even remember windows 2000 ME?
I run XP Pro,sp3, and have a non locked copy of Vista Ultimate I'm unsure of installing.Maybe I'll give it a shot once the patches have been shown to make it truly reliable.

[Arkanos]

What I've seen, just running Windows 7 as a virtual PC on my computer... Win7 is just plain a vista replacement. That and: Do you know the numbering scheme?

Windows 2000: Windows 5
Windows XP: Windows 5.1
Windows Vista: Windows 6
Windows 7: Windows 6.1

Aka, 7 is to Vista as XP is to 2000; the thing that will keep it alive.

[hammond_j]

The beta of Windows 7 is pretty stable, so I don't see why they can't pull off a full retail build by their original release date.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if it's delayed, either.

[kevlinfox]

I can almost guarantee that they will get some negative feedback from the beta, rework it, get more negative feedback, rework it, repeat. They seem to always do this, either that or release it on scedual, then make people pay 5 a month to get updates

[blackbeardlion]

well since the beta works better then vista i think there isn't a problem. real men use linux

[hammond_j]

well since the beta works better then vista i think there isn't a problem. real men use linux

To be honest, I've worked with Linux, and everytime I try it, I just keep coming back to Windows. I think it's improving, but Windows is so much more familiar to me, and I don't have to fight compatibility issues, even with the Windows 7 beta.

I suppose it just depends on what all you do with your computer, just like the whole PC vs. Mac debate.

[blackbeardlion]

To be honest, I've worked with Linux, and everytime I try it, I just keep coming back to Windows. I think it's improving, but Windows is so much more familiar to me, and I don't have to fight compatibility issues, even with the Windows 7 beta.

I suppose it just depends on what all you do with your computer, just like the whole PC vs. Mac debate.

wine! compatibility is a glass of wine away! then there's all the mac emulators

[Cobalt Crimson]

Do we honestly need another Windows? All we get is glitches, security problems, high prices, and crap installed on the pc that we never need or want. Half the crap on vista i can do without.