Back in late 2000, Microsoft released the much heralded successor to Windows 98, Windows Millennium. This was supposed to be a leap forward in speed, reliability, functionality and compatibility. Instead, it was perhaps the worst operating system ever released. It was slow and highly unstable. ME would freeze and crash incessantly. In short, Windows Millenium was a horrific computing experience.
Fast forward about 7 years, and Microsoft releases another hyped OS, Windows Vista. Did they learn from the Windows ME debacle? Apparently not. Vista has turned out to be another ME, in more ways than one, and here they are:
--Microsoft should've learned with ME that users want their operating system to be compatible with the software and hardware they buy. Well, they didn't, this is Vista's biggest shortcoming.
--They should've learned that users enjoy using their OS for more than 5 minutes before a system crash, freeze, or some other inconvenient interruption. Well, to Vista's credit, it is more stable than ME ever was. BUT, Microsoft, in all their infinite wisdom, decided to implement a system where anytime you'd like to make any seemingly small system change, the background goes dark, and a message pops up asking if you'd really like to do what you just did.....sound confusing? It is. Basically the system acts like it's crashing every 5 minutes.
--They should've learned with ME that users like a fast computing experience. Again, Vista fails miserably in this regard. It's slow, even on high end computers.
There is another similarity between Vista and ME. Millennium was replaced only a few years after its debut with XP. Well rumor has it that Windows Version 7, originally slated to be released in 2010, may be released in 2009 to relieve all the Vista users out there….......hopefully.
