Why no one is holding their breath for Windows Vista

Just to give you an idea about what to expect with Windows Vista, here is a cool sign I saw next to all of the computers at Office Depot.

Rather than call the latest version of Windows by its proper name Windows Vista, I prefer to call it Windows XP ME. Windows ME was a product that was rushed to market before it was perfected. Come to think of it, so was Windows 98.

It seems with each new version of Windows, Microsoft is more concerned with creating hype for a new product than they are about generating hype with a quality product.

Windows ME was a bi-product of work that was going on while creating Windows XP. Microsoft's goal was to combine their professional and home lines of Windows into one (or two) versions of Windows that ran on the same engine. As they worked to make XP, it became obvious that they were not going to meet any of their deadlines so, little by little, they skimmed away features they had planned.

Rather than dump all of their deadlines and wait to release XP, Microsoft created a whole new version of Windows. It was a hybrid of XP and 98, to programs that were designed by nature not to run together. Thus was born Windows ME.

ME was the buggiest version of Windows ever. It seemed to have all of the kinks of 98 and XP and none of the advantages. Just a little over a year later, Microsoft issued Windows XP. XP is one of the most stable and powerful operating systems ever.

Now Microsoft has decided to go back to the ME business model. They had big plans for Windows Vista, but in order to meet deadlines they have skimmed away nearly all of the features that users have been looking forward to. All that is left is a very pretty, but clunky, interface.

Vista is Windows XP in an expensive flashy dress (although Microsoft claims it is much more secure than XP...we shall see next year). The changes Microsoft has added are so insignificant that one programmer has created a package of modifications for XP that make it act almost exactly like Vista.

After working for over a decade to create a do-it-all operating system, Microsoft has decided to divide the new Vista up into 5 different versions. Within those versions you can do add-ons and enhancements that suck more computer power and don't do anything that you can't already find in a free download for XP.

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