I an into this article on the Internet. It discusses Microsoft’s release process for Windows and suggests that MS might be accelerating the release of Vista’s successor. THis is an interesting statement since MS seems to take forever to release new versions of Windows.
My personal experience with Vista is less than stellar. Everyone I know who has it, complains about it. Worst of all, I tend to help friends and family with PC support and find that I am unable to help with Vista. It is just so different from XP and so confusing. Application compatibility can still be an issue as well. In general, my recommendation to anyone who asks is to bypass Vista and stick with XP. XP certainly has its foibles, but it is a well understood OS. Vista just opens up a new can of worms and confusion, and is less well understood.
Interestingly, I thnk that the new version of MS-Office suffers some of the same issues. One of my colleagues has it and finds it impossible to find the function that is needed. It is totally different and IMO, more difficult to use than the older versions. MS-Office had the same interface for years and power users are familiar with it. Now, trying to simplify Office, they have made it more difficult to use for power users. Again, if given the choice and you are experienced with Office, I suggest that you stay away from it.