Windows Vista, scheduled for release late next year, is about to be delayed once again. Sources inside Microsoft are telling Paul Thurrott that Vista Beta 2 will be delayed from December 7 to sometime early next year, possibly as late as February. However, instead of pushing the final release date back further due to time constraints, they plan to eliminate one of the planned release candidates.

Thurrott’s sources also noted that the company is still on track for shipping Vista late 2006 stating, “We are on schedule and committed to shipping on time and ensuring a high-quality product. Microsoft sets internal targets for the development team around milestones, but these are not commitments to specific dates. We do not comment on these internal milestones and we have not announced a specific timeframe for our next major Windows Vista milestone.”

There is no current information whether the delay will affect related products, expected to be released around the same time as Windows Vista Beta 2, Internet Explorer (IE) 7 Beta 2 and Windows Media Player 11 Beta 1, both of which were originally scheduled for a December 7 public release.