I'm so confused. First I read this Reuters report from yesterday that says Microsoft "is 'confident' that [Windows Vista] will meet its targeted launch date." That's according to Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platform Products and Services Group. But then today there's a story at NeoWin that quotes CEO Steve Ballmer saying, "We think we are on track for shipping early in the year. We've talked about the month, but we get a chance to critically assess all of the feedback we'll get from this beta release then confirm or move [the launch date] a few weeks." So which is it? Confident or not? I'm not exactly feeling reassured. Ballmer is the one that has the power to name a ship date and make it happen, but Allchin is a lot closer to the product itself and it's he who Ballmer probably asks "Is it done?" In other words, when Vista will finally drop is as uncertain as ever.