At Microsoft's worldwide partner conference this week, Microsoft finally admitted that Longhorn won't see the light of day until 2006. At the show this week, several Microsoft execs casually slipped into their presentations that Longhorn is three years away from debut. Last time I did the math, that was not 2005, as promised just a few months ago. Nor is it even the wishy-washy "2005+" that a few execs had taken to attaching to their product timetables. The new target is 2006, plain and simple.

You can read the full report at Microsoft Watch. Also, earlier this week, a few details on Microsoft's product roadmap were posted by eWeek, although release dates differ a bit here, I would go with 2006. Last but not least, the NYTimes has posted an article discussing other ventures from the software giant, namely those that relate to mobile phones, online game machines and television services.