Is Windows 8 another Vista?

Has Microsoft hit a home run with the Modern UI-themed Windows 8 following the debacle that was Windows Vista?

Not according to a CRN poll, which asked if Win8 was simply another Vista. According to the poll, over half of the 2247 respondents think yes, suggesting Microsoft has scored an own-goal with the made-over operating system.

Just over a third of voters decided the Redmond giant has done OK with the new OS, which incorporates touch elements and a brand-new user interface modelled on the one used for the company’s well-reviewed, but poorly received, Windows Phone 8.

Somewhat controversially, 10 percent of voters have a thing for Vista, which took all the bad parts of Windows, including poor stability and a user interface with all of the sparkle of a cubic zirconia ring and then shoved it onto unsuspecting sysadmins. Those voters – and you know who you are – said Vista is Microsoft’s best-ever operating system.

It’s possible these people have fallen into some sort of Windows-based Stockholm experiment, where upon being continually exposed to the travesty that is Vista, perhaps in the office, have come to accept – and maybe even identify with – a piece of software that will go down with Microsoft Bob in the annals of computer history.

As for Microsoft itself, it is moving towards a yearly update of Windows, under the code name “Blue.” These creeping updates are designed to get around the blockbuster release of a new Windows every few years – and will probably give the company’s software engineers the scope to do something about those “oh crap” moments when they realise they’ve released a pup.

But you Vista lovers? We’re really worried about you.