Gates would be glad to delay Vista

Bill Gates told local software partners at a Cape Town technology conference there was an 80 percent chance the company's next-generation operating system, Vista, would be ready in January.

Gates said that he would delay the launch if beta testing uncovered shortcomings.
Microsoft originally targeted a 2005 launch for the new Windows, and then pushed the release to 2006 before announcing in March that Vista would again be delayed to improve the product.

The new versions of Microsoft's Windows and Office software are central to the company's efforts to revive a stock that has underperformed major indexes since the start of 2002.

Gates said he hoped the next version of Office would be ready in December and the new Office would include the biggest set of innovations in more than a decade, citing its ability to work on documents simultaneously over the Internet.
The biggest market for these products soon will be China.

Gates made his comments to Microsoft software partners and discuss how technology can be harnessed to boost Africa's competitiveness.