Microsoft Pushes Back Windows XP Beta 2 Release

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February 16, 2001 (12:00 AM EST)

Microsoft Pushes Back Windows XP Beta 2 Release

The release of Windows XP Beta 2 has been pushed back to March 14, but Microsoft executives are still gunning for the final release in June, according to an internal memo examined by CRN.

"We are not hitting our goals for [Windows XP] Beta 2. We will not ship the wrong thing," wrote Iain McDonald, a Microsoft Windows program manager, in an e-mail message to staff on Thursday. "This being the case we're moving the release of Beta 2 to [March] 14."

"We do have to drive to the OEM dates, but no one ever remembers a two-week slip," McDonald also wrote in his e-mail memo about the Beta 2 release date, noting that quality is the priority. "Now is the time for us to be aggressive and drive the intensity. March is gut-check month because if we don't do this now, we'll miss the runway."

According to an internal Microsoft (stock: MSFT) schedule examined by CRN last week, the company expected to freeze the Windows XP Beta 2 code Feb. 28 and release it to manufacturing May 30. On Tuesday, Feb. 13, Microsoft executives gave a preview of Windows XP and wisely bought some time, stating in a press release that Windows XP Beta 2 would ship in the next month.

While the beta 2 date has been pushed back exactly two weeks from the original engineering goal of Feb. 28, the Microsoft engineering executive is confident the company can finalize Release Candidate 1 in April and ship the new client operating system in June.

"When we hit RC1, we have a solid eight-week program to RTM [release-to-manufacturing]," the e-mail memo said. "The RC2 release is a short milestone where we can fix any final big things. These milestones are shorter than Windows 2000—in fact, more like the end game of Win ME because of the similarities of the release. We need each team to sign in blood they will work to ship us in June."

McDonald also wrote that on the first-year anniversary of the release of Windows 2000, the company is preparing to release Windows 2000 Service Pack, but the exact date is not clear. The final test version is due internally in late March or early April.

"We have to complete Windows 2000 SP2—customer are using and paying for it today—we cannot lose people in production," he wrote. "We also need to make sure the quality of Windows 2000 keeps getting better in each SP."

Recently, Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., issued a statement that it sold more than 1 million licenses of Windows 2000 Server since it was formally rolled out and shipped last Feb. 17. Kodak, Astra Zeneca, Chase Manhattan Bank, Texas Instruments, Shell Oil, and General Motors are among a long list of Windows 2000 customers to date.