Windows 7

Make no mistake: Microsoft has moved beyond Windows Vista, which will become all too apparent during this week's Professional Developer Conference. Windows 7 is the future, and in many ways it's the present, too.
Contrary to ridiculous assertions recently made by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Windows Vista is a flop. If businesses aren't buying Vista, after waiting six (now seven) years, it's no success. Yet, during the last day of the Gartner 2008 expo 10 days ago, Steve asserted that Vista "has been extremely successful."
A few days earlier, Steve boasted: "Vista is our best-selling product ever. So, if that takes too much getting over—we're not going to have products that are much more successful than Vista has been. We sold over 180 million copies in the first 18 months, quite successful." Really?
But who's buying this "best-selling" product ever? "We have 180 million users, mostly on the consumer market," Steve said in an Oct. 2 speech. Oh? According to Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald and David Smith, only about 10 percent of enterprises have adopted Windows Vista. That's not a high number, particularly in context of the approximately six years between Windows XP and Vista.
It's not surprising then that PDC attendees will hear whole lots about Windows 7 this week and very little about its predecessor. Windows 7 banners are plentiful enough, as are the sessions: Out of 194, 22 are dedicated to Seven and none to Windows Vista. It has leprosy, baby, and nobody wants to catch it. I Googled "PDC 2008," and one of the pages—not now available—is "Unveiling Windows 7 to the World."
Vista is headed to as quick a death as Microsoft can give it. Someday soon, some gun-toting Microsoft executive will lead Vista out back and "Pop!" Netbook buying trends and the sagging economy give Microsoft more reasons to want to off Vista as soon as humanly possible.