Is Windows Vista the New Windows Me? - TechRadar UK

It’s fair to say that over a year after its launch, Windows Vista has not been the giant success story that Microsoft probably hoped it would be.

Even the much delayed Service Pack is still not available to everyone, and those that have installed it, have often suffered a whole host of new problems. It’s tempting to say that this is Microsoft’s biggest disaster yet, but is this really true?

The "We love Windows XP" fan club

A large number of potential Vista users have either stuck with XP, or they have tried Vista and decided to downgrade.

Sure, Windows XP is now seen as a stable, reliable, and mostly secure OS. But when XP was first released, it caused no end of problems for users upgrading from older Windows 9x OSes.

Many software companies hadn’t updated their software to work under XP, and for reasons best known to themselves, hardware manufactures had failed to produce XP drivers.

So consumers suddenly found they either had to buy new products, or wait for months before they could use their existing ones. Sound familiar?

Time to fix Windows Vista

Windows XP has been around for over six years now, has had two service packs, with a third on the way, and numerous updates and patches.

It’s hardly surprising that it’s now considered a reliable OS.

It was the same story with Windows 98. Once Windows 98 Second Edition was released, the OS had most of its major shortcomings and problems fixed.

Windows Millennium Edition, otherwise known as Windows Me, wasn’t so lucky. Like Windows Vista, Windows Me felt rushed out to meet a deadline. It didn't come across as a final, polished product.

Windows Me was a hybrid of the Windows 98 and Windows NT operating systems, and had a brand-new interface that was pretty much lifted form Windows 2000. With a shelf-life of just over one year, it’s arguable that Me was basically a stop-gap measure. Because Windows XP was running late.

New features, new problems

We already know that Microsoft is working on the next version of Windows, codenamed Windows 7. Microsoft has confirmed that it’s actually quite far down the line in building it. Microsoft has suggested that it is still on track to ship Windows 7 "approximately three years after the general availability of Windows Vista". Pencil January 2010 into your diaries.

We already know that Vista was rushed out, and that many of the features promised by Microsoft (notably WinFS, the Windows file storage system), never made it into the final product.

Windows Me also introduced a number of new features, such as System Restore, System File Protection, Universal Plug and Play and Automatic updates. However, some of these features failed to work properly, drivers were hard to find, and the OS had a reputation for being inherently unstable.

Ultimately, Windows Me users were plagued with crashes, freezes and often couldn’t shut their PCs down without cutting the power.

Vista won't be remembered

While the problems aren't as severe in Windows Vista, the parallels between the two Oses are uncanny. Like Vista, most Windows Me users hated the OS so much, they ended up going back to Windows 95 or Windows 98.

Vista has already exceeded the life-span of Windows Me, but its problems continue. Not only have Vista Service Pack 1 users found themselves trapped in endless reboot cycles, many hardware drivers now no longer work.

Windows Me ended up with the nickname ‘Windows Mistake Edition’, and it’s possible that Vista will end up with the same reputation.

We’ve tried Vista. Some of us have rolled back to XP. But we’re hoping that, beyond any touch screen gimmicks, Windows 7 will finally bring the features and stability that Vista failed to deliver.