Windows Vista - when will we get it?

Apparently, Microsoft are going to re-write 60% of all the Vista code over the next few months. This is an interesting story. Mostly because it's complete rubbish. Here's a thorough debunking of the idea.

I have NO idea where that 60% thingy came from, as best as I can figure, the site that published the article pulled that information totally out of their hat. In addition, if you think about it, it's a nonsensical comment. According to the wikipedia, Windows contains 40 million lines of code (I have no idea if that's accurate or not). But assuming that it is, and assuming that Vista had the same amount of code that XP had, that means that Microsoft would be re-writing 24 MILLION lines of code. In two months (Vista's only slipped for 2 months according to this press release). Now Microsoft programmers are good, but they aren't THAT good. Anyone who's ever worked on a project that involves more than a thousand or so lines of code understands how utterly laughable that is.

(My emphasis)

It's quite amusing really, how some journalists have got it so wrong (you're seeing now how I've moved on from the BBC!). It's especially amusing because most of the Microsoft bloggers are quite cross about this story and demanding the resignations of the journalist and editors. That's unlikely, but it's interesting how small the Internet is at times, that an article can appear and then be criticised within minutes.