Several people have now asked me “Should I go ahead and buy a new PC this year or wait until Windows Vista comes out?”

Windows Vista — the next version of Microsoft’s client operating system — is currently expected to hit the shelves in January 2007.  This means that Microsoft is missing the big holiday season.

This is good news to PC manufacturers, who generally have their strongest sales during Q3 and Q4, with sales slumping during Q1 & Q2.

This is still an officially-unconfirmed rumor, but should come as welcome news to anyone holding out on buying a new computer due to Vista’s delays.