Are we getting to the point of diminishing returns with Vista?

This is a sacrilege to IT professionals and self proclaimed nerds, but to a considerable extent new operating systems have long been reaching the point of diminishing returns.

The ideal operating system is simply transparent. Most new ones simply add useful bug fixes to earlier versions, allow access to more memory or storage or use more clock cycles to achieve a useable interface. In practice Windows has given the impression of progress by bundling feature of existing stand alone programs into the offering so that users associate those features - like web browsers, media players, disc compression etc with the operating system. The value is therefore in the bundle.

Windows Vista is at release candidate stage; Microsoft has stated the scheduled release dates for Windows Vista are currently November 2006 for business editions, and January 2007 for consumer editions so let's see what we are in for.

Microsoft's primary stated goal with Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One of the most prevalent common criticisms of Windows XP and its predecessors are their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a Microsoft-wide 'Trustworthy Computing initiative' which aimed to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft's new CEO Steve Ballmer tells us that Digital Rights Management (DRM) is essential to the Trustworthy Computing. Tying DRM into the operating system means that - not to put to fine a point on it Microsoft not only protects, but also control the content on user’s computers. . . . more on this soon in this blog!