It’s finally here, a Windows operating system to cure your Vista woes. Windows 7, as it is called, is not really the seventh version of Windows, though Microsoft would rather you thought otherwise. But, regardless of naming debates, to most people — and to Microsoft itself — what’s important is that it’s not Vista.
This year’s major operating system updates are, in essence, polished versions of their respective predecessors. Apple’s Mac OS X Snow Leopard, released in August, is almost indistinguishable from Leopard until you explore its nooks and crannies. Windows 7 is also not so different — it’s simply a better functioning Vista.
Windows XP was released in 2001. Five years later, Microsoft created a brand new version of Windows in the form of Vista.
But there was so much negative feedback from early adopters of Vista that it became the OS many people pretend never existed.
As a result, the majority of Windows computers, especially in corporate environments, stuck with XP despite it being so far out of touch with the technology of the day. The old OS was robust enough that help desk and support personnel rarely bothered to recommend people upgrade.
A poll from Forrester Research had Windows XP emerge as the OS preferred by 81 percent of IT departments.
In the meantime, the onslaught of Mac OS X kept coming. While Mac sales slowly increased following the release of XP, they accelerated most rapidly in the months following Vista’s launch. Microsoft needed to act and Windows 7 is the result of three years of pruning and polishing.
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