Better late than never?  I guess.  Steve Ballmer, who just a few days ago hung tough and said Vista would not be delayed by the Symantec lawsuit, now admits that Windows Vista may not make its January delivery date.  The market expected that announcement since Gartner's report at the beginning of May.

The Symantec suit is not the only legal issue pending that could impact the release of the software.  The European Commission made noises during Microsoft's appeal of the EU's antitrust penalty that the commissioners were concerned about Windows Vista and might file another antitrust action.  Even with that threat Microsoft thumbed its nose at the EU and used shoelaces and bank vaults to try to prove that the EU's fines are not justified.  The appeal court's decision will not likely be known for about another 60 days.  If the court sides with the EU it will be even more emboldened to file an action against Windows Vista.

Will the court battles hurt Vista?

Yet another development that could impact Vista's release is the extension of oversight by the U.S. Justice Department until at least 2009.  Even Microsoft admitted that it hasn't kept up its side of the bargain in the antitrust settlement when it agreed to the two-year extension of Justice Department oversight.

Ballmer does insist that Vista will come to the market next year.  Gartner's analyst thinks it will be in the second quarter of 2007.  But, both could be wrong if the legal actions stall Vista's release. 

Microsoft are you listening?  Isn't it time to work more aggressively toward settling some of the legal hurdles rather than fighting them out in court? No business can truly go forward with so many legal hurdles to overcome before a product release.