Microsoft has completed support for Windows Vista

Windows Vista was once positioned by Microsoft as the most advanced OS. True, it was never able to become popular, the increase in the market share of Windows Vista was mainly carried out thanks to the efforts of Microsoft itself, which did its best to “pull out” its project. But it was not possible to take any significant place in the market of desktop operating systems.

Well, yesterday, April 11, the technical support of the OS by Microsoft was completed, 10 years after it appeared. For the company, the creation of this operating system was a landmark, initially it was planned to add a lot of new products, including the Windows Future Storage (WinFS) file system. But some time after starting work on the Longhorn project (it was this code name this OS received), it became clear that some innovations would have to be abandoned. One of the first such "abandoned" new products was just WinFS.

Representatives of Microsoft, talking about a completely new file system, said that it should be like a huge database, using which you can quickly search for information without any problems. The physical structure of files at the NTFS level does not undergo any changes. But the essence of the so-called structured data model. This hides a mechanism that constantly processes (administers and structures) digital elements or entities. The file system was decided to stop developing in 2006, but the project's developments were continued in SQL Server.
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Another notable innovation that was included in the list of features of the final product is the Windows Aero Interface (Aero Glass) interface. His work required a solid computer configuration, but it was really something new. Widgets have appeared in the interface, the start menu has been changed, and many users have liked the changes. In addition, in Windows Vista, it was possible to display the contents of windows when switching between tasks. It looked spectacular, but in reality it was rarely used .

It is worth noting that almost every new Microsoft operating system has been widely criticized. But in some cases, this criticism was caused by unusual changes, which over time have become convenient tools. The same Windows XP was immediately criticized by many, but this OS exists and occupies a solid market share so far, despite the cessation of support and attempts by Microsoft to change anything. But Windows Vista was scolded as soon as it appeared, and several months and years after that moment. The main object for criticism is the high demands on resources and their rapid exhaustion even on sufficiently productive systems, especially laptops.



In addition, a number of new interface products did not work too well , this applied to both weak PCs and powerful ones, the capabilities of which should have been quite enough for all interface elements and services of the new operating system. Initially, Vista was installed on its systems, even manufacturers of netbooks. But it immediately became clear that such computers were not “pulling” the new OS, so their developers quickly switched to XP.

The new OS was also criticized for supporting the system for protecting Blu-ray discs DRM. In a general sense, DRM - technical means of copyright protection , software or software and hardware tools that intentionally limit or complicate various actions with data in electronic form (copying, modifying, viewing, etc.) or allow you to track such actions.

Perhaps now they would pay less attention to this, because over the years, right holders have come up with a number of new protective measures to help protect licensed products from "pirates." But then the users did not understand why it is impossible to take full advantage of the purchased disc. In addition, while working with OS, Vista issued a large number of UAC (User Account Control) requests, which was annoying. In the end, the company even had to perform additional configuration of the UAC system. UAC itself even caused ridicule from Apple.


Microsoft tried to protect Vista. For example, an interesting experiment was conducted, during which users were first polled about what they thought about Vista (the opinion was mostly formed against the background of an opinion heard somewhere). And then the same users were shown the system itself.


As a result, many rated it higher than at the very beginning of the survey. But nothing helped. Complaints continued, millions of users returned to XP, or simply were not updated. Therefore, the corporation decided to start working on a new system, which soon appeared, called Windows 7. Then came the G-8 and, finally, the G-10. As you know, the latest version of its Microsoft operating system is promoting very actively, which was repeatedly written to Geektimes.

You can talk a lot about the reasons for failure. For example, the corporation then experienced problems - both with the management and with the conformity of its projects to the spirit of the times. Huge funds were spent on the promotion of Vista, large-scale marketing campaigns were conducted. But nothing helped. Money wasted.

At the time of the end of Vista support, according to NetMarketShare, it owns only 0.7% of the market. StatCounter shows a similar picture.



But XP, whose support has long been discontinued, still occupies about 7% of the desktop OS market. Windows 7 owns about the same proportion. So Vista, it can be considered, has long left the market. Now only the final stage of the life cycle of this OS. Goodbye Windows Vista.