Windows Vista: Can It Deliver On The “Cool Factor” and More?

As most people have heard, Window’s Vista’s official launch is happening as we speak. In the past, there was very little for Windows to worry about when it launched a new product since it was the only player in town. That is not longer the case so the question is, will Vista help keep Microsoft at the top or has their time passed?

Windows XP came out in October 2001 which is now over five years ago. XP stands for Experience and overall Microsoft did a decent job of allowing the user to work faster while not pushing them too far out of their comfort zone. With over 400 million copies in use, Microsoft must have done something right. The question is will Vista be as successful? Obviously, only time will reveal the answer, but we can still speculate and put forth some personal opinion on the subject. Here are 4 key questions and what Windows Vista’s answers are to them:

• Easy and intuitive networking and integration

  We all live in a world of wireless printers, laptops, iPod’s, Palm Pilots and a ton of other gadgets. We want to be able to share data between all of these devices easily and efficiently.

  Window’s Vista Answer - Networking

  It seems Microsoft is trying to help make networking easy. They are moving to a visual based system that helps map and grid your network.

• Customization and access to information

  Everyone has different interests. I want to see my favorite Blogs and newspaper articles when I wake up on my desktop. Most computer users do not need very many different programs, but they want the ones they use to be fast and easy.

  Window’s Vista Answer - Side Bar and Gadgets

  Windows is moving to more of a Mac desktop system. This will definitely allow for more customizations. In the early beta of Vista they had very few Gadgets that work. I hope the official release has more to offer.

• Security

  Not everyone is a computer guru and it is very frustrating when you have to phone the kid next door to get the virus off your computer.

  Window’s Vista Answer - Security

  Windows XP Service Pack 2 brought some additional security functionality. Hopefully, Vista brings a greater improvement upon this since it is very difficult to configure and disable functionality.

• The “Cool” Factor

  We may not want to admit this, but we all want to be up to speed on the latest fads and the coolest software. We want to have access to the cool features and software that allow us to impress our friends.

  Window’s Vista Answer - Cool Factor

  Windows Vista is trying to take this to the next level. Many of the windows allow for Alpha fading. It seems they have taken some guidance from their friends at Mac.

The question really is going to be, is Windows Vista too little to late for Microsoft? Mac has made some huge leaps and bounds over the last five years. I am walking into more and more offices these days that run only Macintosh systems.

I hope Microsoft put more effort into working on Windows Vista than they did with Internet Explorer 7 (I finally switched to FireFox and I am loving it).

Long term, Microsoft definitely has an uphill battle to keep their monopoly like hold on operating systems. Mozilla is consistently gaining market share with FireFox, Apple is going strong and has iPod loading profits into their development fund and you can never leave out Linux from the equation.

It will be interesting to see who owns the Operating System game in ten years…Can you say web based…