Vista SP2: The new gold standard. Get used to it

It happens with every major Windows version. First, there’s resistance. IT shops don’t want or need a new Windows. The new version is slower, fatter, and full of unnecessary fluff. No, thank you. We’re staying put on Windows [insert major version name] for now.

Time passes. Old hardware gets replaced. New hardware comes online, frequently with the unwanted Windows pre-installed. Then, at some point — usually after the second Service Pack has been released — IT begrudgingly accepts the inevitable and embraces the next generation.

For the version known as Windows Vista, that point has now been reached. SP2 is now officially in beta. The bell has tolled. The writing is on the wall. It’s time to embrace reality and accept the fact that Vista isn’t going anywhere. Even when it ceases to be the next generation, this version’s soul will live on in its prettier, flashier twin, Windows 7.

But you say you don’t want Vista? Tough luck. Microsoft has made its decision. It broke with the past during the Vista transition. Now it’s carrying this architecture forward with Windows 7. They’re birds of a feather, those two. Scratch Windows 7 and it bleeds Vista SP2 blue.

In fact, if you compare them side by side, Vista with SP2 and the latest leaked WinHEC bits (build 6956) for Windows 7, you’ll be hard-pressed to tell them apart (aside from the even glitzier new GUI and that superbar abomination). As those close to the development team will attest, they’re more alike than you think.

So, enough with the foot-dragging and tantrum-throwing. No more Save XP campaigns or snide Vis’duh comments. This is now the face of Windows. As of SP2, Vista is the gold standard against which application and device compatibility will be measured going forward. If it runs here, great. If it doesn’t, too bad. Microsoft has stopped looking over its shoulder. It’s time for IT to do the same.

After all, it’s not like you have any choice in the matter.