Windows 7: R.I.P.

Death throes. That’s how I’d describe the latest barrage of white papers from Microsoft. The company’s flagship, Windows Vista, is thrashing around in the shallows like a wounded animal, fighting in vain to escape the inevitable. As with any good life and death struggle, there’s a great deal of screeching and wailing – “Vista’s not a failure, we’ve sold over a 100 million licenses!” Then, in a final flurry of “hooves and teeth,” it succumbs – another victim in the vicious OS circle of life.

A bit too melodramatic? Perhaps. But when you analyze the tone of the company’s recent spin efforts you can’t help but detect a hint of desperation. After all, Microsoft’s marketing teams have tried almost everything to get customers to switch to Vista, from extolling the product’s virtues to trashing its predecessor, Windows XP. Yet the product remains radioactive – almost nobody wants it, and those who do won’t admit as much for fear of looking the fool.

Now we learn that there’s no point in waiting for Windows 7 because, according to Microsoft, “it’ll be just like Vista.”

Talk about eating your young! Microsoft is now publicly trashing their next version in order to salvage their current dud. Never mind that they’re killing the very positive mystique surrounding Windows 7. Company executives are hell bent on proving that the Vista “Refuseniks” were wrong, and they’re not above using force to achieve their goal.

That’s right, hidden within their latest propaganda piece is the not so veiled threat that customers who bypass Vista risk widening the very compatibility chasm that dissuaded them in the first place. That’s because Microsoft has no intention of making it any easier for customers to upgrade to Windows 7 from XP than it is for them to upgrade from XP to Vista today.

Bottom Line: If you don’t like the migration path as it currently stands – with the spotty backwards compatibility and steep resource requirements – then tough luck. Windows 7 won’t help you.

Frankly, it’s a terrible attitude. I daresay it’s almost abusive, like the ranting of some spoiled child. Microsoft’s mad because we won’t come out and play with Vista, so they’re going to punish us by making Windows 7 just as difficult to stomach. It’s pathetic.

As I said before, desktop Windows is doomed. Version 7 was the platform’s last, best hope. Now it looks like Microsoft is going to kill it out of spite – one final, desperate act before the end.

Windows 7: R.I.P.