Is mighty Microsoft Corp losing its touch? Rumors are growing that Windows NT 5.0, its next-generation operating system for the enterprise, may not be ready for release next year as it is riddled with glitches, bugs and incomplete core features. And NT is not the only area where deadlines are reported to have be trashed. Other BackOffice enterprise applications such as SQL Server 7.0 and IIS (Internet Information Server) 4.0 are also running behind schedule. Even Windows 98, whose third beta was due in September, is not likely to be out until the end of the year. Developers, ISVs and OEMs working with the first beta of NT 5.0 report a host of problems and overall instability. It is a complex beast with 26 million lines of code, compared with 16 million for NT 4.0 so fixing problems is no easy matter.
