Microsoft"s efforts to bolster security in Windows XP will likely delay the release of a widespread test version of its forthcoming operating system until next year, Microsoft"s top executives told CNET News.com.
Microsoft had said it planned to ship the test version of Longhorn, a major update to the company"s Windows operating system, this summer. The company has reassigned a large number of developers working on Longhorn to build updates to the existing versions of Windows to bolster security, said Jim Allchin, vice president of Microsoft"s platforms group. Asked whether the company would make its self-imposed deadline for delivering a Longhorn beta by summer, Allchin said, "I don"t believe it will be this year." He also said that some minor features planned for Longhorn will be cut to accelerate development, then rolled into a future Windows release. "If we don"t really know how to do something by now, it"s probably time that we think about not putting it into the product," Allchin said.