What he's actually saying is that Microsoft is dropping Vista like a rock, and anyone who paid 400$ for Vista Ultimate edition is SOL.

Then Vista owners will have to pay another 400$ to get the "proper" OS.
Don't expect a service pack to include windows 7's bug fixes enhancements either.

Vista does not suck. => In denial, are we?

Despite all the marketing nonsense with:
* The Mojave experiment
* Seinfield
* "I'm a PC"
* Bragging about how well Vista has been selling. (Despite being bundled into systems!)

...Vista has FAILED to be adopted as planned. (No doubt they expected most people to convert...That didn't happen). This is what Ballmer is admitting in this article. MS has wasted millions on things that doesn't matter. That's the cruel reality of the situation.

What's the CEO's "up side" on this issue?
=> Don't worry! Its OK! You can skip Vista! Windows 7 is coming! It'll be just a better Vista!

What does that say about Vista itself?
What of those who spent $$$ on Vista?

This sick game of needing to upgrade because they want you to, is getting old. The winner isn't you. Its them. It always has been...And I'm glad I've grown up and stopped playing this game.

No, I don't hate Vista. I just don't care for Windows anymore...Just like the next version, the version after that, and the one following that.

If it weren't for DX10, Vista would not be selling at all.

So if someone just bought vista should they feel screwed? Do they now have to buy an upgrade, then go through the trouble of re-installing everything? Or should they just wait for Windows 8, which might be out a year after 7.

I have so far no reason to think windows7 isn't a renamed vista, and as such if you don't want vista for any other reason than not liking the name you are still out of luck,
Still, what windows7 will be in the end remains to be seen, hope springs eternally, and their recent adcampaign shows they can switch their stance in mid-stream and adapt to third parties and customer response doesn't it?! ;)

I'll pay $0 on software for the whole 20yrs. How much will you pay for software? (This is legit, non-pirated software). Do you see how it adds up?

You seem to be conveniently ignoring the axiom that Linux--for all its many benefits--is only free if your time has no value. Despite all the improvements to the kernel and the user/developer experience over time, this truism still applies.

Hello all, 1st post here on TR :)

I've read this and other threads carefully, as I am in the middle of a "fight" where I work.

So, I guess that the problem is not that Vista sucks. That was in the beginning when there were the usual flamewars. After 2 years and SP1, it turns out that the situation is worse now: nobody cares anymore.

What I have noticed, on some cases, forums, threads, etc... is that some people that are hardcore defenders of Vista, get profit out of it, are devs, cooperate closely with Microsoft, OEMs, have dedicated sites.
On the other extreme some OpenSource guys are also commercially motivated. Ex: Linux on the corporation is not free, servers come with RedHat, people get profit from Linux technical support since the OS is unfriendly even for some old school sys admins.

I do not have a passionated view of Windows, nor Microsoft :) I see MS Vista as both a commercial product and as a tool.
Does it worth what is asked for or not? Not for retail, but for the prices of OEM licenses, it's an excellent piece of software!
Does it get the work done or not? No, it's not usable on an environment where XP is mature and integrated. One has already deployed some of it's features, i.e. a security package or it's possible to get other for free like indexing.

I consider that some bashing and pushing MS against the wall is good though. Linux is eating they server space left and right. The result: guys around here are saying that Windows Server 2008 is a work of art!

I wish the whole "ribbons" thing would die. I guess I'm in the minority, but I absolutely hate Office2007 because of it. I guess I'm too used to the old menus and hate change.

To all you people complaining about the real-estate the Office 2007 Ribbon takes up:

MINIMISE IT

Click on the little arrow next to the Quick-Launch bar at the top and the option is at the bottom.

Then it takes up the same/less space than 2003.

So what OS does one choose when they plan on building a Nehalem Quad Core monster with more than 4GB of RAM to replace their aging P4 Northwood running XP?

XP? waste of RAM!!!
Vista64? Why when its about to be replaced?
Windows 7? 2010? I've been using this PC since 2003!

ARGH!

Microsoft deviated from how they normally operate, and it's customer/software base with Vista.

Hopefully Windows 7 will fix those mistakes.

Huh? Windows 7, an iterative evolution of Vista, is going to revert to the same foolishly romanticized compatibility and security conditions that exist in XP? Hello? Is this thing on?

I'm not surprised with this comment. Any criticism of Microsoft is considered a flaming of MS or fanboi behaviour. Typical of those who can't see the real game being played. Oh well, not everyone is up to scratch with modern marketing, read The Art of War (by SunTzu), or strategic thinking. You are being played, and you don't know it...

Please...save your retarded conspiracy drivel for the wandering n00bs at BestBuy. SunTzu doesn't have a damn thing to do with luddite-originated FUD or the architectural changes to Vista/Windows 7.

(When you look at web statistics, and Genuine Advantage numbers, Licenses sold does NOT meant well accepted).

Marketshare shows Vista at 18% ( http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=11 ); not bad at all, considering the prevalence and prolific nature of XP. Of course, M$'s ridiculously good quarterly numbers must all be related to XP, right? Or maybe they sold all their old W98 licenses to Burkina Faso or something?

What happened to just selling hardware and providing the consumer with the choice of OS they want? Windows XP, Windows Vista, or No OS.

Joe SixPack and Bill CorporateBuyer don't want systems that aren't preloaded. That would seem rather obvious to, well, everyone even remotely paying attention.

What color is the sky in your world?

No, I don't hate Vista. I just don't care for Windows anymore...Just like the next version, the version after that, and the one following that.

That's friggin' comical, particularly when you realize that both OS X and the Linux distro-of-the-month have far more point releases than M$ has ever had--and they crank them out like no one's business.

M$ is hardly forcing people to upgrade at an unreasonable rate. If anything, their entire business model has been based upon people's desire to run old code on old OSes.

They only valid reason for jumping on to vista if you have more than 2 or even more than 4 gigs of ram. Vista 64 is solid,but then again i have 8gb of ram lol.

I like vista for the most part especially that i can see all my ram

Ballmer skipped Vista and went straight to Ubuntu.

It's true, I read it on the Inq.

Steve is right: one way or another you are going to have the Vista kernel.

You can start using the kernel now, or you can hold off on your adoption. It doesn't matter, really. One way or another, you WILL deal with a Windows machine, using a Vista kernel, in the future.

Vista runs great for me and I like office2007 i'm as happy as michael jackson in a preschool.

My only complaint about ribbons is that on lower-end laptops like the ungodly Latitude D530 I have at work I lose a ton of screen real estate. 1024x768 is for the dogs.

Otherwise, ribbons are an improvement.

Why is this news? Hell, there's 12K people in my company, and they just finished moving to XP earlier this year. This is only news because Vista ostensibly sucks, and no one seems to remember the initial reaction to XP from users across the spectrum.

Oooh... reverse psychology. Now that Stevie B said to skip Vista, people will start adopting it. Take that Microsoft! I'll do the opposite of whatever you say!

It's the same strategy my company is going with...but....
I'm amazed he would just state that he's OK with it like that.. Wow.

I'm glad to hear that Steve Balmer approves of my Windows upgrade strategy.

I've been skipping Office since 2000 by using Open Office and I've been skipping Vista so far, I'm just not sure if its how Ballmer intends.

#3, Vista does not suck.

You're clearly missing my context. Please look up the word iostensibly

Captain Obvious to the rescue.

I was expecting Ballmer to do another crazy dance and throw office furniture at a random employee. XD

Hell, XP for most of its life was hardly deployed in businesses until application support started to dropped for W2K.

Dear Steve,

Sincere thanks for your permission to ignore this release.

Your friend,
Xylker

Props to Balmer for admitting the benefits of Vista were not worth migrating to on a business scale.