Microsoft's 'big bang' could be its last
 

When Microsoft releases its SQL Server 2005 database on Nov. 7, it will have been five years since the last version debuted. If Windows Vista arrives as scheduled next fall, it too will follow its predecessor by five years.

That's a pretty long time to make customers wait for a new release. Too long, concedes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

"We just can't make our customers wait three or four years for the things which should have been on more interim cycles," he said at last week's Gartner Symposium/IT Expo in Orlando.

Although many Microsoft products have grown long in the tooth, the company is headed into a cycle that will see a flurry of big releases over the next year and a half. In addition to the new SQL Server, Microsoft is launching a revamp of its Visual Studio developer tools on Nov. 7. Next year will bring new major releases for both of Microsoft's core franchises: Office and Windows.

http://news.com.com/Microsofts+big+b...?tag=nefd.lede

so clients are complaining that they only have to shove 100$/€ every 5 years instead of every 2 years?

Hell I'm not complaining about that. They can't even make it bug free as it is, what's going to happen with even more features. And I'm supposed to pay again and again for this?

If there should be one Overhaul in the IT sector, it's the habit of sell now, fix later. Adn when they properly fixed it, they just start over selling new bugged crap.

The way I see it as the growth in this market will be focused at China and India in the coming years, there is no way MS can dictate O/S at both price point and code propriety. Development in O/S will not be the same. With complete system goes for <$300 how long could an O/S command for several hundred dollars.

The market will have to change accordingly.