Software release dates are a "no-win" situation
Software release dates are a "no-win" situation, and Microsoft is going through one right now.
Everyone wanted to know when Windows XP Service Pack 2 would be released. For a long time, the standard reply was "when it is ready”. (Of course "ready" is in the eye of the beholder but that's beside the point.) After a while, someone at MS came up with an estimated release date. Maybe it was a generous attempt to help others with their planning, or to appear to be a person in the know, or just an expression of optimism at a time when development was moving well. Yikes, it might have been lashing out in frustration to halt the incessant questions about the planned released date. Whatever the motive, it set off the losing scenario.
You see, cautions, qualifiers and guesstimates never stick with release dates. If you say "provided all continues to go well, roughly around the end of June but it could be much later", you've just announced "The end of June” as a firm date. It doesn’t matter if you decide to add security features or fix more bugs; the media will hold you to the date and make you look like a failure for not hitting “a deadline”. It is strange how a firm decision to make a product better makes you seem indecisive, and having the foresight to get it right makes you a laggard and bad planner.
As the “deadline” approaches and passes, columnists make fun of so-called “delays” and pressure you to get the release out - as if the world’s troubles will be solved by it. These are the same people who can’t wait to slam you when a reader eventually reports a problem with the release.
Nope, you just can't win at that game, so just laugh off the question.
Besides, release dates are easy to predict. If you watch Microsoft long enough, you learn that events are better indicators than words when it comes to a solid release date. Big releases hit known deadlines like a TechEd conference, a Bill Gates speech, an issue of MSDN magazine or a spate of book releases. Bets on a VS .NET 2005 beta in July?