You know, it’s not often that we get to stand up and say ‘I was right all along.’ The things we predict aren’t always happy things, such as the current case of Windows. But at least I can celebrate the fact that what I have been saying for the last two years is true: Vista has been written as a tight kernel with plugins in the Unix/Linux tradition.

The sad news is that Microsoft has officially admitted that the old code base of Windows is so flawed that it can’t be fixed and it can’t be used as a basis for upcoming operating systems (yes, I mean Vista). So it threw out the old code and rewrote main parts from scratch. No wonder it took what will be 6 years! The upcoming release of Vista won’t have all the bells and whistles originally planned for it, but those can be added as time goes on (plugins, remember?).

Windows is broken and Microsoft has admitted it. In an unprecedented attempt to explain its Longhorn problems and how it abandoned its traditional way of working, the normally secretive software giant has given unparalleled access to The Wall Street Journal, even revealing how Vice President Jim Allchin, personally broke the bad news to Bill Gates.

[Continue reading Microsoft Windows Is Offically Broken]