Windows 7 Could Shine Vista's Tarnished Image
Microsoft thinks that the positive vibes from Windows 7 will spread to Vista.
With Windows 7 in the can and soon to be released to the world, Microsoft must be relieved that it can finally wash away all the negative feedback that it had to endure because of Windows Vista.
Despite all the important and positive infrastructure changes introduced with Windows Vista, users found the OS to be bulky, slow and not worth upgrading from Windows XP.
Windows 7 aims to fix all the wrongs of Vista and to start with a fresh, positive image of Microsoft's operating system. So far, all the early impressions from users of the beta and RC versions of Windows 7 have been positive. Interestingly enough, Microsoft believes that all the warm, fuzzy feelings surrounding Windows 7 will actually boost the image and reputation of Windows Vista.
"I think people will look back on Vista after the Windows 7 release and realize that there were actually a bunch of good things there [in Windows Vista]," said Steve Guggenheimer, vice president of the OEM division at Microsoft, in a ChannelWeb story. "So it'll actually be interesting to see in two years what the perception is of Vista."
Windows 7 is built off from the same code foundation as Windows Vista, leading some to call the upcoming OS as just a "second edition." But many of the changes and improvement in Windows 7 are crucial to a better user experience, which is in the end what determines popular opinion.

It really amuses me how it has become "cool" to get on the bashing Vista bandwagon - especially those who have barely used it, if at all. Grow up guys.
Apple, Linux and all the other "smug" alternatives do less. Have fun.
Vista is a resource hog, but primarily so because it was more intelligent than previous versions of Windows. I blame PC companies for underpowering their systems and selling them to the public. THAT is, in my opinion, why Vista was victim of such harsh criticism.
If I could afford it I would run Vista ultimate 64 on my desktop but I just have to settle for home premium on my laptop. Will probably buy the family pack and split the difference with my family, upgrade my laptop, desktop, parents pc, brother's pc woth windows 7.
That said... I'm still looking forward to Windows 7... if only because I like new things (even when "new" just means "refreshed")
Win7 on the other hand is a tweaked version of Vista, no matter how you look at it. IF Vista was broken, so is Win7, because not that much has changed.
Having used Vista for about a year before I installed the Win7 RC, I still don't see what's wrong with Vista. Win7 feels *slightly* snappier but that's about it. Remember when Vista came out, drivers were a huge problem. They were slow, unstable or non-existent. Since Win7 can use Vista drivers, this won't be repeated, leaving people with a much better initial impression of the OS. Something about having to throw away $500 worth of old hardware because there are no drivers tends to leave people with a bad taste... The handful of pretty major bugs that plagued Vista prior to SP1 didn't exactly help.
Thumbs up.
PEOPLE learn to optimise you computers and stop blaming the OS for everything.