Was Windows Vista An Innocent Victim?
Few products have inspired such wrath in the IT industry as Windows Vista, which is why Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) executives are no doubt breathing a collective sigh of relief this week as they prepare to officially launch Windows 7 on Oct. 22.
Microsoft learned many tough lessons from Vista and appears to have applied these well in Windows 7. But there are still Microsoft employees and partners who feel that Vista just got a bad rap, and that the industry may one day come to realize just how unfair the criticism of Vista has been. In the opinion of many solution providers, Vista simply became a lightning rod for the general frustration that exists around doing business with Microsoft.
Throughout much of the year, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been frank in acknowledging Vista's shortcomings. But earlier this year, Steve Guggenheimer, vice president of the OEM division at Microsoft, told Channelweb.com that he believes a successful Windows 7 will help polish Vista's legacy, particularly since the two are built upon much of the same code.
"I think people will look back on Vista after the Windows 7 release and realize that there were actually a bunch of good things there," Guggenheimer said at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July. "So it'll actually be interesting to see in two years what the perception is of Vista."
:story: Full story: CRN
