In an effort to "better focus on quality", Microsoft announced yesterday that the next-generation SQL Server (code-named Yukon) and .NET (code-named Whidbey) will not ship until 2005, so as to allow for an extra round of beta-testing before release. Both had been planned for "the second half of 2004".
Of particular interest is that this will mean that customers who'd bought Microsoft's two- to three-year window license window (which would include a free upgrade when it came out) will now have to buy new licenses for the new versions of the product. Tongues are wagging as a result.
Yukon was originally scheduled to ship in 2003.