Microsoft sending mixed messages about Windows futures with ‘Fiji’?

After a brief blip of news following the mid-July release to manufacturing of Microsoft “Fiji,” it’s back to radio silence again. But the quiet shouldn’t be interpreted as all is well.

In fact, a number of Fiji testers who asked not to be named and with whom I’ve communicated are not happy with how the test process for Windows Media Center TV Pack (Fiji) was conducted or the product that resulted.

In fact, one tester made a convincing argument that Microsoft is doing more harm than good with Fiji, by sending mixed messages around whether users should wait for Windows 7 or upgrade now to Windows Vista coupled with Fiji.

Microsoft execs have been encouraging users against waiting for Windows 7 and grab the compatibility bull by the horns now in order to avoid having to do so with Windows 7 when it arrives around late 2009. Microsoft’s claim: Because there will be no deep-level changes between Vista and Windows 7, users who upgrade now to Vista will not meet with as many driver and app compatibility issues in upgrading to Windows 7 as will those who are holding off from the upgrade.

Read the whole story here.

-Ken