Happy Birthday to Windows Vista!

A year since its launch, Microsoft has sold 88 million copies of Windows Vista to customers upgrading from Windows XP; those building their own PC and installing it; and those who have bought a brand spanking new machine with it already installed.

In that time, Microsoft has also guaranteed many products and software applications will work with Windows Vista and, in many cases, make the experience better. Currently there are 3,296 applications and 2,180 devices
that bear the Works with Windows Vista logo, and 1,904 applications and 2,298 devices with the Certified for Windows Vista logo.

The road to the Windows Vista launch on 30 January 2007 wasn’t a smooth one; it took a lot longer to release than expected. Planning for Windows Vista, code-named Longhorn (after an après-ski bar in Canada), commenced in 2000 – a year before its predecessor Windows XP had even been launched. To make sure those who made the jump from Windows XP to Windows Vista were still able to use their original software and hardware, Microsoft’s developers had
to incorporate some of the functionality from Windows XP into Windows Vista.

Windows Vista was lauded as the most visually unique operating system Microsoft had created since Windows 95; gone was the hourglass, replaced with the Aero interface, which not only made everything beautiful, but easier to use. In 2003, part of the interface – the Windows Sidebar – was canned. But, thankfully, two years later it was put back in.

Microsoft also addressed the issue of safety within the Windows platform. In December 2004 Microsoft bought out GIANT
AntiSpyware, later reworked into Windows Defender. In an interview with David Perry, who has worked with companies such as IBM, McAfee and Symantec, he said: “Windows Vista stops more threats than any other operating system in history.”

Naturally, we can expect to see even more improvements in future versions of Windows. It’s thought the next version (which, in theory, should be ready for 2010) will simply be called Windows 7. Although there is no official word on how it will look, or what new features it has, it might be worth looking at the Microsoft Surface (www.microsoft.com/surface) for a taster of how technology might evolve the next operating system.