The software maker said quality concerns were behind the decision to drop the feature, which allowed people to keep files up-to-date across multiple Vista machines.
"While PC-to-PC sync is a great feature that improves productivity and collaboration we don't have it at the quality level our customers demand," Microsoft said Wednesday in a statement.
Piecing together Vista
The PC sync capability was present in earlier test builds, but it was stripped from Vista just before Microsoft shipped Beta 2 last month.
Microsoft is trying hard to meet its already postponed release target for Vista, with the operating system currently set to be finished by November and to hit store shelves in January. Many outsiders, including analyst firm Gartner, have suggested that further delays are likely.
The decision to drop the synchronization software is all part of the company's normal beta testing, Microsoft said, but added that it doesn't expect a lot of changes to Vista's feature set between now and the final release.
"At this point in the development cycle, we do not expect to make any major feature additions or subtractions, but will continue to listen to customer feedback as we begin to prepare for final availability," the company said.
Microsoft is not permanently dropping its plans for the PC sync feature. "Work on PC-to-PC synchronization continues and is something we plan to deliver to our customers in the future," it said.
The feature's removal was noted earlier Wednesday by Microsoft Watch.
