Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday that Virtual PC 7 is expected to ship in October, but may be delayed further if the company is unable to ship the delayed Windows XP Service Pack 2 in August.

A spokesperson for Microsoftis Mac Business Unit told The Mac Observer Thursday that plans are on track for an October delivery date.

"We anticipate that Virtual PC 7 with Win XP Professional and Home will release to manufacturing in September and be on store shelves by early October," a company statement said. "Virtual PC 7 with Windows 2000 and the Standalone and Upgrade versions will be available a few months after this debut."

But Microsoft cautioned that any change or longer delay in the release of Windows XP SP2 could back up the release of Virtual PC 7.

"If Windows XP SP2 is delayed, so too will Virtual PC 7," the spokesperson said.

The Mac BU announced in May the product had been delayed from the first half of this year until the second half of 2004 due to longer-than-expected development and testing. It was then that the company said Virtual PC 7 would be released "sometime in the second half of 2004".

The company announced at Macworld Expo last January that it planned on releasing Microsoft Office 2004 Standard Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Virtual PC 7.0 and its associated Office 2004 Professional Edition in the first half of 2004, targeting the month of May.