Microsoft: Windows Not Being Delayed -- Company Attributes Inaccurate News To Its Competitors

Microsoft denies it has postponed shipping the highly anticipated Windows 95 operating system to computer makers, saying reports of a delay were prompted by inaccurate news leaks from a competitor.

Microsoft's stock temporarily dropped yesterday after Bloomberg Business News, a wire service used by stock traders, reported that computer makers would not receive their copies of Windows 95 as expected on July 7.

Bloomberg attributed news of a delay to unnamed executives at PC companies who were worried they might miss the fall back-to-school shopping season.

Some computer makers questioned the report's accuracy, though, and Microsoft stock ultimately closed up $1 yesterday, at $87.875.

If nothing else, the flurry of activity following the Bloomberg report indicated the magnitude a Windows 95 delay would carry.

Not only did Microsoft's stock dive as much as $5 per share on the early report, but the broader stock market, which has risen to record levels based on the strength of technology stocks, dropped about 20 points during the day.

Analysts expect about 50 million copies of Windows 95 to be sold in its first year on the market, boosting not only Microsoft's profits, but the profits of many other companies that make accompanying software and hardware.

Microsoft also firmly stood by its plans to release Windows 95 to consumers by the scheduled launch date of Aug. 24.

Bloomberg cited unnamed computer makers as saying they had expected to receive copies of Windows 95 on July 7 but had been told by Microsoft that the company would not make that date.

The Wall Street Journal today reported that PC Week magazine, in a report distributed over the Internet, also quoted unnamed PC makers as saying delivery of the code had been pushed back to the end of the month from July 7.

Microsoft insisted there hasn't been any delay, although the company would not disclose the dates it plans to ship Windows 95 to computer makers.

"I don't know what the July 7 date is. There is no July 7 date," said an angry Brad Chase, a Microsoft marketing manager on the Windows 95 team. "There's no new news."

Chase said the Bloomberg report was based on a tip from a Microsoft competitor.

A possible source could be IBM, which makes computers but also sells an operating system, OS/2, that competes with Windows. IBM could not be reached for comment.

Bloomberg stands by story

Bloomberg reporter Kourosh Karimkhany today said the news service stands by its story.

"It wasn't a leak planted by a competitor," Karimkhany said. He said computer makers, at a recent industry expo, said they hoped to be able to ship computers loaded with Windows 95 before Microsoft's planned Aug. 24 release date to consumers.

Hoping to make that impossible, Microsoft moved the shipping date to computer makers back from July 7 to July 14, Karimkhany quoted sources as saying.

Compaq Computer and Hewlett-Packard deferred comment to Microsoft. Packard Bell said it had heard of no delays and didn't know of any July 7 date.

Mel Ransom, vice president of marketing, said the company has always expected to receive Windows 95 between July 15 and July 20, in plenty of time to install it on computers that will go on sale in late August.

One company that makes software that will run on Windows 95 said it, too, has always expected to receive a final version around mid-July.

Microsoft, which has scheduled a "worldwide launch" of Windows 95 for Aug. 24, stressed that consumers will, at that time, be able to buy shrink-wrapped versions of the program as well as new computers preloaded with it.

The amount of time computer makers need between receiving a master disk and shipping new machines to retailers varies depending on the size of the company. But generally, companies build several weeks of preparation time into their scheduling.

A Compaq spokeswoman said the company needs to test the program heavily, assuring that it runs compatibly on Compaq hardware, before "transitioning" its factories.

Compaq has three factories in Houston and at least one each in Scotland, Singapore, China and Brazil, spokeswoman Nora Hahn said. She would not specify a schedule for Windows 95 installation.