Microsoft has revealed the projected release dates of Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 in a phone conversation with vnunet.com's French sister publication SVM, the publication claims.

"Beta 2 of Windows Vista, Microsoft's future operating system, is slated for release in the first week of December 2005 at best," a posting dated 29 August said. "The final release has been pushed back until September or October 2006."

Beta 2 of IE 7 is set for September 2005 followed by the release of the final version in December, the story continues. The product launch will coincide with Vista beta 2. Vista beta 1 was released to testers in July.

A spokeswoman at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond would neither confirm nor deny the report.

"At this time we have nothing to announce in regards to timing," she said. " When we feel that the product has effectively incorporated the customer feedback we receive during the beta process, we will release the final product."

Microsoft had not previously announced a projected release date for the beta versions of Internet Explorer or Vista beta 2.

The software firm had set the release of the final version of IE7 no later than the summer of 2006 and promised that Vista would be finished in time for the 2006 holiday shopping season. 

Etienne Thierry, author of the French article, attributed the information to Microsoft France, but did not publish the source's name.

The story is supported by another report, claiming to be based on internal Microsoft documents, that sets the release of Vista beta 2 for 7 December 2005. It predicts a full release date of 15 November 2006.