Windows So whats so great about vista

Ok, correct me if I'm wrong here, but...

Vista was never intended to be a definitive release. It was called Longhorn after the Longhorn Bar which is halfway between Whistler and the other mountain the MS devs like to ski on. Whistler was XP and the other mountain (forget which one) is the really next gen OS, and Vista was only supposed to be a stop-off between them, sort of like ME between 98 and XP.

However, it seems to have grown all out of proportion to it's origins, but I still don't see it as a huge step forward over XP.

Yeah, me too. I've got Ubuntu installed on this thing, but am still using XP until I can work some bugs out.

 

OK, I'm correcting you because you are wrong.

Longhorn was the original codename for the whole project. As things progressed, it split into Longhorn and Vista which are the server and desktop versions of the same technology respectively. Vista is not an interim step to Longhorn -it is the desktop equivalent. AFAIK, Longhorn will share the same base as Vista, albeit with the benefit of any lessons learned in Vista.

It *is* supposed to be a big deal, but many think it isn't because so many bells and whistles have been removed or diluted (e.g. WinFS). The interesting thing about Vista is not the new sidebar or the changed Start button, it's the completely new underlying architecture. Unfortunately people don't see past the shiny things.

So on the one-hand, boo-sucks to MS for failing to deliver some of the more interesting bells and whistles, but they may be due some credit if the whole effing thing works and is reasonable secure in the process.