You might have heard that Windows Operating Systems have a habit alternating between big
hits like Windows XP, and huge misses like Windows 8
And today we’ll be touching on one of the most well-known disappointments of them all,
Windows Vista.
So why was XP so hard to follow?
And what’s made Vista so infamous as one of Microsoft’s biggest ever failures?
Here’s How It Happened.
For starters, maybe it was inevitable that Vista would be a flop due to the public’s
unrealistically high expectations.
Vista’s predecessor, Windows XP, had launched in 2001, becoming the world’s most popular
and widely used operating system and successfully unifying the powerful driver support from
the Windows 90s range, with the reliability of the business-focused Windows NT line.
Naturally, consumers were expecting another impressive upgrade when Vista rolled around
five years later, but a few hiccups in the development phase meant these expectations
were never fully realised.
For example, Vista was pioneering a new visual theme known as Aero, with glass-like panes,
a 3D view of open tabs and windows that would snap together to make the most of available
screen space.
While this might sound appealing, the interface was thirsty for computing power and slowed
Vista down significantly.
The same could be said for several other aspects of the OS, as Microsoft became too interested
in adding as many features as possible, instead of focusing on what customers wanted to use
day to day, widely known as a software bloat.
The knock on effect of the bloat was that Vista drained the battery power of laptops
much quicker that XP, causing them to overheat more often and losing out on speed test conducted
by independent reviewers.
And what also slowed things down was the boosted safety features of Vista.
Windows’ reputation for security had taken a hit from a malware attack known as Blaster
in 2003, so in response the company put cyber security at the forefront of its latest OS.
The result was User Account Control asking if you’re sure you want to allow changes
every time you made a download, a tedious procedure that inspired an ad for Apple’s
Mac at the expense of its Microsoft rival.
The other big issue was Vista’s compatibility and hardware requirements.
On release, hardware companies started selling computers that barely met the OS’s minimum
requirements, papering over the cracks with a sticker that said compatible with Windows
Vista, and leaving millions of customers with slow machines that underperformed on the most
basic of tasks.
And many drivers for customers’ favourite programs became obsolete with Vista, which
hardware producers sought to capitalise on and invite upgrades for equipment like printers
and scanners that were only a few years old.
Hardly Microsoft’s fault but it was fairly predictable with the total rewrite that took
place after Windows XP.
Even three years after Vista’s release, it accounted for 400 million of all Operating
Systems in use, still a way behind XP’s 1.2 billion,
And the arrival of Windows 7 served as a direct replacement for many of these users, ironing
out the teething problems of Vista, managing to run faster than its predecessor while consuming
less space on your hard drive.
Overall, 7 was very well received and became a welcome successor to Vista.
Comment below with your favourite Microsoft product and what you’d like us to talk about
next.
Thanks for watching.