Released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006 and shipping to consumers
on January 30, 2007, Windows Vista had a troubled development and a
troubled life once it shipped. But it was an essential Windows release,
laying the groundwork for Windows 7 and beyond. For all the criticism
that Vista and Microsoft received, the company never really backtracked
on the contentious aspects of the release. After a while, those aspects
just stopped being contentious.

I reviewed Windows Vista way back in 2006 for OSNews, in two parts,
followed by another look at the operating system five months later (my fascination with post-XP Windows started all the way back in 2003, when
I wrote a Longhorn review for OSNews - three years before I actually
joined the OSNews team).

The importance of Windows Vista cannot be overstated. In hindsight, it
was probably the most important Windows release since Windows 95, as it
was a massive overhaul of countless crucial aspects of Windows NT that
we still use and rely on today. A new graphics stack, a new audio
stack, a new networking stack, a complete overhaul and cleaning of the lowest-level parts of the kernel, and so much more.

Windows Vista ended many terrible design decisions from the XP and
earlier days. No more kernel access for developers, a new driver model,
no more programs running as administrator, and so on. Microsoft forced
Windows users to bite the bullet and endure endless UAC dialogs, but it
all paid off in the end.

And on a personal note, Windows Vista came after Windows XP, and
Windows XP was one of the worst operating systems I have ever used. I
despise Windows XP, and would rather use a $200 2005 Acer laptop with
Vista than a fancy 2009 Sony VAIO or whatever running XP. Windows Vista
set the scene for Windows 7 to murder Windows XP for good, and for that
reason alone, Vista gets 56 thumbs up from me.

Vista was part of a very large undertaking inside Microsoft to
completely overhaul the low-level parts of Windows, to prepare the
platform for the next decade and beyond. It led to Windows 7, Windows
Phone, Windows on the Xbox One, and countless other variants. Not all
of those are or were successful, but each of them are still fruits of
the incredible engineering work Microsoft's women and men undertook to
salvage the architectural trainwreck that was Windows XP and earlier.

They did an absolutely amazing job, and on this day, I commend them for
it.

http://osnews.com/story/29763/Windows_Vista_officially_dead

--
Eduardo
Sorocaba-Brasil
www.alt119.net - Art-Culture-Lusophony

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