Unless you have been living under large topiary for the past couple of years, you know that January 30th, 2007 marks the wide scale consumer release of Microsoft Windows Version 6.0.6, or the product you might know better as Vista. 

So in case you’re not one of the many Corporate IT departments already wrestling with the thought of Vista deployment, or a member of the press with an advance copy, or a developer (or even a wanna be developer) with MSDN, or you attended any MS event in the last few months, or you “purchased” one of the CTP (Community Technology Previews), or you Bittorrented a cracked copy – wow come to think about it, who doesn’t have a copy of Vista yet?

Well, for the eight of you who spent the night in a CompUSA parking lot so you can get your hands on the golden code (I use that term loosely) this Blog’s for you.

Actually, I shouldn’t “dis” those of you who are not as jaded, as I do recall the excitement of ripping open the shrink wrap of a new Microsoft OS to frantically jam its 5 1/4“ floppies into my system. For me the day was a cool Tuesday Morning, May 22nd, 1990. If that’s a little misty in your memory it was the launch day for Window 3.0.

Much has changed as far as launch days go. There where no Rock Stars, world wide simultaneous telecasts, and no “Start” buttons. There was no line wrapping around the door at the Egghead Software, ah Egghead – good times in that place. No the real excitement was not in the glitz of the launch itself, but rather in the technology, the software, the anticipation of totally new and improved product.

The expectation that this version of Widows would redefine the way users interact with their data. The promise that this Windows experience would so far exceed those of previous versions that I would instantly ask myself how I ever functioned before. Yes, there was a lot of anticipation as an early adopter back then.   Funny, the more I think about all that has changed, the more clear what has remained the same becomes. We’ve all been filled with hope of a better Windows for a long time.

A “hope” that this version of Windows will actually deliver on the dreams we’ve had for Windows 3.11, NT, 95, 2000, and even XP, the hope of a stable, secure and productive OS.

So Happy Vista Day – I hope the wait truly ends.