Today there was a more detailed introduction to Microsoft’s Windows 7, the next offering of an operating system. During the keynote address, Steven Sinofsky was candid about some of the errors with Vista:

“…Sinofsky said Microsoft is learning its lessons from Vista, which was widely criticized by users and the press, and spoofed famously in humorous television advertisements by competitor Apple.

Sinofsky acknowledged that some of the criticism was deserved, particularly around Microsoft’s lack of preparing its hardware, software and peripheral partners for Vista’s release, even though it was more than five years in the making.”

link: Microsoft Vows Windows 7 Will Fix Vista Mistakes

A consequence of this presentation is that it has tapped into some of the anger and frustration of Vista users. Some openly wonder if Vista was some form of ‘beta’ for Windows 7. Vista has eroded consumer confidence in the product and some look with skepticism at the Windows 7 publicity. It seems that Microsoft has a public relations problem that still needs to be addressed. The wide acceptance of Windows 7 may depend upon that.

Catherine Forsythe