In what comes as almost no surprise, Microsoft has decided to delay the release of Windows Vista, the successor to XP. Initially shooting for a release this December, it has been put off only slightly, to January. This isn't due to development entirely, however - the development will end in November, but due to licensing issues and release issues arising from a delay, they have put the entire release off.

"We needed just a few more weeks, and that put us in a bubble...where some partners would be impacted more than others," Allchin said in a conference call with reporters and analysts.
Other things have been stripped from Vista to speed up the release, and this delay could potentially hurt PC retailers, but it's better to finish a product and wait than to release a beta.