So where's the wow factor in Vista?

Stan Beer
Monday, 22 January 2007 16:13

Opinion and Analysis

Microsoft is reportedly using the word wow in its marketing messages for the upcoming release for consumers of Windows Vista. The question is what exactly are we supposed to be wowed about?

Even though it was twelve years ago, I can remember vividly Microsoft launching Windows 95 to the strains of the Rolling Stones’ hit Start Me Up. The wow factor was definitely there.

As far as PC operating systems go, Windows 95 was truly a wow of a product. Compared to its predecessor Windows 3.1, it was a generational leap. For many, it was worth lining up in the street for.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, the same cannot be said of Vista. It certainly looks snazzier than Windows XP with that Aero GUI and it has been designed with security in mind (as were XP, Win 2000, Win 98 and Win 95). However, a generational leap, a paradigm shift, a different way of doing things it is not.

This is a pity because one would have thought that an operating system that took five years to develop from the ground up would be light years ahead of its predecessors. In fact, Vista appears to be really just a continuation of the Windows 95 family, albeit a considerably more powerful, modernised version with improved features.

Back in 1995, when Pentium processors started taking over from the last of the cranked up 486 line, many consumers were buying their first PC for the home. Windows 95, with a relatively user friendly interface, was an enabler that allowed inexperienced computer users to get started more easily.

Vista can lay no such claim to being a technology enabler. In 2007, most homes in the developed world have at least one PC running Windows XP, 2000 or 98. For them, Vista is an operating system that provides no must have advantages over what they already have. However, it will almost certainly require them to spend a considerable sum to upgrade both their hardware and software.

For sure, all of us who buy a PC at some time in the future will take delivery of Vista as it will be resident on the machine. No doubt, many of us will come to appreciate the improvements the new operating system offers, such as the lightning fast desktop search (it’s really very good).

However, most of us who are not ready to upgrade our PC just yet, are not going to rush out and pay money for an operating system that consumes considerably more hardware resources than what we have.

As a Windows XP user, what I have does me just fine. With an appropriate security package installed, I have had no security problems. I think I’m a fairly typical  medium level home office user.

When it comes time to upgrade my PC, I’ll get Vista by default but I would have just as happily taken delivery of a new PC loaded with XP. For Microsoft, this must be a worry because most of its Vista sales are going to be coming from sales that it would have made of XP anyway. So I ask once again: what exactly are we supposed to be wowed about?