Is Vista a stop-gap?

Microsoft has already started working towards their next major operating system code named Vienna, and claims that the new OS should ship in late 2009.  Microsofts current flagship product, Vista, took 6 years to bring to market even though Microsoft had planned on a 2005 release.  They blamed these delays on security holes in Windows XP that required them to shift their workforce to fill the XP gaps instead of working on Vista.  So that’s only 2 years away.  Can we all get by on Windows XP until then?

This is shocking news for me.  Everyone knew that Vista wouldn’t be the last OS Microsoft ever shipped, but to follow so closely on it’s heels with a bigger and better version seems extremely odd.  I could buy Vista today for $400, or I could wait 2 years and get Vienna.  That’s a huge decision, but an easy one if you ask me.  Imagine buying a computer or game console for $400, then having it be replaced in a measily 2 years.  I would hold out.  There are already plenty of reasons not to jump on the Vista bandwagon right now.  By the time all the hardware vendors and software developers get into the Vista swing of things, Vienna will be out and we’ll be right back where we are now.  i’m guessing that Vienna, if it does ship on time, will be what MS wanted Vista to be.  It’ll have the WinFS file system for one thing, and will be considered more of an upgraded version of Vista, and not an entirely new OS that requires everyone on the planet to upgrade.  Kind of like Win2000 and WinXP.  A lil part of me hopes it’s another WinME.  That’ll teach ‘em.