Microsoft to rewrite 60% of Windows Vista source code?

The Inquirer covers a wild rumour that Microsoft needs to rewrite about 60 percent of its upcoming Windows Vista.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson to smarthouse.com, orders have come down from on high to rewrite more than 60 per cent of the consumer version of Vista in a bid to get it ready for the 2007 CES show in Las Vegas.

Microsoft has shifted programmers from its Xbox team to help resolve many problems associated with entertainment and media centre functionality inside the OS. They are also working with Intel's Viiv team engineers and it is believed that is Viiv could also be stalled to line up with Vista’s launch.

At the centre of the problem appears to be the Media Centre code which will not be optional. Apparently they cannot get it to work properly in its current format and will have to make a lot of changes to the code to jack it in.

If this is true than it could mean that a January 2007 release date is rather optimistic.

By the way, last year Jim Allchin announced Microsoft has completely started rewriting Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn back then) in 2004. So if this rumour is true it's already the second time that Microsoft decides to rewrite a huge part of Windows Vista.