Microsoft Wednesday again delayed the release of Windows Server 2008, saying development of the software could take as long as another three months beyond its previously planned December release.

The new plan calls for the server to be released to manufacturing (RTM) between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2008. RTM means the software's development is complete and the bits are ready to be pressed onto distribution media.

The delay, which is being blamed on the need for more testing, means the server possibly won’t be ready for the “launch event” in Los Angeles on Feb. 27 that Microsoft is hyping. The event features Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Ironically, the server delay may mean Microsoft has nothing to launch that day. SQL Server 2008 is slated to ship between April 1 and June 30, 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 is targeted for release at the end of 2007. Microsoft said it will not cancel the event, which includes customers and partners.

“My conversation with the development team is that they are very aggressive about RTM prior to the launch event. We really want to do that,” says Helene Love Snell, a group product manager in the Windows Server team. “But we are not shipping until it is ready,” she adds

Observers signal that perhaps Microsoft is taking the pragmatic path on a piece of software that first was put into beta in 2005 and has suffered numerous delays and feature dumps. “The testing matrix is just so huge you can’t cut pieces out of it,” says Michael Cherry, an analyst with independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. “I think they are just concerned about doing the right thing.”

Others said the delay probably won’t amount to a big deal for corporations, but it could help with future client and server rollouts down the road. “There is some alignment going on here and that is why Windows Vista SP1 is coming out in the same time frame as Windows Server 2008. They are surely aligning those technologies,” says Al Gillen, an analyst with IDC Along with the server delay announcement on Wednesday, Microsoft announced that Vista SP1 would ship in early 2008.

But Gillen also wonders how the server delay will affect products built on Windows Server 2008, namely virtualization technology; the Centro server bundle for midsize businesses; and Cougar, the code name for the next version of Small Business Server.