Well Vista has been released to manufacturing, the copy that will be in use is now locked out and will require post release patches. No more bug fixing, which Microsoft might regret. It’s been called a ‘train wreck‘ by even Microsoft’s biggest fans.

Vista, as you might be aware by now, is the new OS from Microsoft, built to replace Windows XP. It’s been a long ride, Vista was in progress in 1999 and is only just seeing the light of day - only it isn’t.

Microsoft is trying to sell Vista as a new OS, which it was meant to be when it was first concieved. The idea was to start from the ground up and create a whole new modern secure OS with none of the legacy issues of the Windows code. The problem was Microsoft, like Apple before it with the abandoned Copland OS, discovered that it was unable to code a new OS from the ground up.

So what is Vista if it is not a new OS? Vista is Windows 2003, service packed and with both new code, features and front end. The GUI is nice looking but bot streamlined, it gets in the way rather than work with you. I have no doubt that at some point Microsoft will get the GUI right and working well. Front end design at Microsoft is usually strong. Windows 2003 was from the Windows 2000 code base, which was from the NT4 code base.

Vista isn’t new, its legacy goes all the way back to NT; and some of its code goes back to Windows 3.0 and DOS. Creating a whole new OS just isn’t easy. Microsoft fell back on its own codebase to save the Vista project, dropping the whole notion of creating a new OS. Apple sidestepped the problem by dropping Copland and buying NeXt.

Is Vista worth buying? No - even if you are a Microsoft die-hard. If you must buy it I’d wait for the first service pack. If you are a regular every day computer user and not a Microsoft fan I’d suggest you get Linux or OS X as you next OS. Vista is not the OS you’re looking for.

Will Microsoft’s next OS be new?

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