Windows 97 unlikely to be ready this year

In an announcement that shocked some observers and bewilderedothers, Microsoft Corp. announced last week that its next generationdesktop operating system, Windows 97, would be delayed and probablywould not ship this year.

Microsoft, a company that has missed the promised shippingdates for each of its primary operating systems over the past threeyears (Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, Windows NT 5.0)has done it again. 97. The software was to have been announced onthe second anniversary of Windows 95, in August.

But those plans are off, says Microsoft's director of productmarketing, Jonathan Roberts. A test version of the system will shipto …