Today, everybody's all about Windows 7. Because the RTM of Windows 7 is available for download to MSDN subscribers, and already I'm preping systems for upgrade or transition.

And so... the countdown to Windows 7's launch begins, and also begins Windows Vista's walk into the darkness.

A lot of people hate Windows Vista, calling it a total piece of crap. But no... that honor falls to Windows ME. For me I shall remember the things which Windows Vista brought to the table, the enhancements and features which are built on and enhanced in Windows 7.

Security Security Security

Windows Vista was the first OS to come out of Microsoft after their trustworthy computing initiative which basically thought developers to FEAR what security holes can be introduced based on bad programming practices. It's also the first version of Windows to, for the first time NOT run users as administrators. And boy did that decision cause a stir. Program incompatibilities and problems aroused when they couldn't simply write to the PROGRAM FILES folder or the system drive, or were denied access to registry keys which they would just simply walk over and modify previously in Windows XP. UAC was also introduced in Windows Vista, and even though a lot of people hate it, it does help secure the system, and down the road with developers getting a better understanding of how to write programs that work hand in hand with the Windows security architecture users will forget that they ever hated UAC in the first place.

I hope Windows Vista will be remembered as the OS that bitch slapped developers to wake up and be responsible people and start writing code that acted responsibly like saving only to user folders, not treated the user's hard disk like a giant playground etc. etc.

A Better Driver Model

In Vista, the driver model changed. The idea was to increase driver performance, yet at the same time make it so that driver failures would have a less chance of taking down the system. Unfortunately the hardware vendors *cought* Nvidia *cough* weren't prepared properly for the change and the Vista driver situation was very.. very.. bleak. This turned out to be one of the main reasons that users started cursing Vista, since performance sucked balls for their high end equipment. One of the most visible features of this new driver model is that it allowed new features like Aero Glass and Flip 3D to be implemented, and in Windows 7 this is further enhanced in Live Preview.

Of course, there are plenty of other features that should be mentioned but these are 2 important ones that I feel will have the most effect moving forward.

And now.. let's head towards Windows 7...