A full decade after it was first launched, Microsoft Vista announced that it was dropping support services for its Windows Vista OS. Users still operating on the old system will either have to upgrade to receive updates and security support and protection, or will have to risk a system that will no longer be under the protection of the computer corporation.
The operating system represented a new aesthetic and design for Microsoft, but its rollout was received relatively poorly as many computers, including computers labeled “Vista Ready,” found its operating system and graphics clunky and difficult to process. The OS was known for taking up a lot of space and including what users considered extraneous junk, and was panned by reviewers in the years after its release.
Some of the features of Vista made their way into Apple commercials as drawbacks to compare their own products against, such as the excessive use of User Account Control prompts.
Launched in January 2007, Vista became well known for its excessive bugs, user difficulty and inability to play nice with computers and netbooks. For many people, the OS was seen as the worst Windows OS of the 21st century.
Microsoft attempted an advertising campaign to show users that complaints of Vista were overblown or socially driven rather than reflective of real user experience; the campaign was not able to make a major dent in public opinion, however, and customers continued to generally rate it unfavorably.
In October 2009, the company finally released what they billed as “what Windows Vista should have been,” the Windows 7 OS. More stable, less space-hogging and more streamlined than Vista, Windows 7 received generally positive reviews, with many web hosts using it, and seemed to put Microsoft back on track in the public eye.
Since then, the company has also released Windows 8 and Windows 10, which each have had their share of praise and criticism (although none have received as much criticism as Vista did).
Not many customers will be affected by the drop in support. According to NetMarketShare, Vista only had 0.72 percent market share among users (when Windows 7 was released, Vista had 19 percent of the market share).
