Guy Kewney

My memory of the launch of Windows 95 was that it was a remarkable improvement on Windows 3.1, especially in networking. Similarly, when Windows 98 appeared, it was a great relief to find it solving problems with older versions, and adding to ease of use; and I could say much the same about Windows XP.

Like many, I have failed to be smitten with the latest Windows version, Vista, and I’m really not amazed and astonished by recent stories of angry users asking for their new PC to have XP on instead. What I am quite surprised by is the number of people who think this is new.

I’ve removed Vista because it gets in my way. But I can remember NT 4.0 being described as “wonderful” by people who, a few years earlier, refused to upgrade from NT 3.51, and I know many people who aren’t returning to XP simply because they are still grumbling about having to drop Windows 2000.

Benchmarks show that the “slowness” of Vista is at least partly a perceived fault. As new hardware with compatible Bios firmware comes in, perhaps that will stop seeming so bad. Or perhaps not.

I predicted Vista would be unpopular and I wasn’t alone. It’s a big change from XP, and it will take even longer to win over the doubters. This isn’t the first time a new system has provoked nostalgic yearnings, and it won’t be the last.

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