It used to be that when Microsoft was preparing for a new major release of their software the Press would gather around like groupies backstage at a rock concert. All excited and giggling about the wonderful things that were going to change our lives.

Nowadays, with the approaching release of Vista, you get the sense that the press is a shiver of sharks, slowly tightening their circle around the thrashing victim struggling and bleeding in the water.

I recently posted comments on an article by John Fontana in Network World about Exchange 2007 shaking up the industry. Full article here.

Now Peter Coffee with eWeek has written an article comparing Vista and Jaguar, Apple's new OS. His comments are a blistering attack on the failures of Microsoft to deliver value with Vista. Here is a portion of his article:

"Microsoft has seriously drained (and perhaps even poisoned) the once-overflowing well of good will that it has long enjoyed among application developers. To look back...and to ruminate on the bent or broken promises of the so-called "three pillars of Longhorn," is to marvel at how far short of those goals the company has now reconfigured its aims."

"What's now promised for 2007 is a radically de-featured Windows XP upgrade..."

Coffee states that one of the key selling points for Vista is "...aggressive hardware requirements to propel new hardware sales..."
You can read his full article here.

The reason this is a key selling point is due to the fact that the hardware vendors need a boost for selling their new hardware, and if Vista requires ALL new 64-bit hardware, then you, the happy business owner, IT Manager, or CIO, are faced with ripping and replacing all your hardware to feed the need to stay current.

Christmas is coming so keep a look out for Microsoft shoving aside the bell ringing Santas as they attempt to get you to give them money to pay for their next generation of technology.