They usually are in a hurry to make a new Windows every time a version has a lukewarm reception, and; who likes Vista anyways?
I have 15-20 eager PC nerds for friends and they all hate Vista with heart and soul and even my parents who have no prior experience with Windows complain about how tacky and tricky it is at times.
I also hate Vista, it does none of the things it was "tailored" for, its jumbly settings wise and eats half your memory even idling.
Give me a new Windows, I'll stick with XP till the Vista farce is over and done with thank you very much.

Well neither was OS X when it came out. Many people dual booted to run anything that was OS 9 before it. I would actually consider that a good thing as Windows Vista does not break full backwards compatability so much as dampen it.

To add to what Lolita said the MinWin Kernel is roughly 33 megs in size BUT keep in mind that it will most likely be 3-7 gigs for the final OS with all of the files. Things to expect for Version Seven are increased voice commands and response enhanced touch inputs and more importantly enhanced networking where you can just drag a file from one desktop on a computer to another desktop of another computer. None of that stuff is confirmed but it is what the rumor mill is saying. I would take a wait and see approach though. Milestones just came out which virtually tell you nothing adn look Vista(whcih si normal)

Didn't anyone pay attention to all those Microsoft announcements last year?

They're planning on getting their OS on a cycle.  Instead of a new version coming out whenever, they want to get it down to every X years.

Mummelmann said: They usually are in a hurry to make a new Windows every time a version has a lukewarm reception, and; who likes Vista anyways? I have 15-20 eager PC nerds for friends and they all hate Vista with heart and soul and even my parents who have no prior experience with Windows complain about how tacky and tricky it is at times. I also hate Vista, it does none of the things it was "tailored" for, its jumbly settings wise and eats half your memory even idling. Give me a new Windows, I'll stick with XP till the Vista farce is over and done with thank you very much.

Whoa whoa there. I actually like Vista and that whole eating half your memory thing comes about from prefetching programs to make them load faster. It does do a lot of things better than XP and as long as you aren't running pro tools or 64-bit(the version I use) most programs are not a problem.

Out of XP Vista 64 and 10.5 I spend the most time on Vista 64.

Yeah, the 64 bit version is a lot more useless, especially if you don't have RAM to cover the alps.

Honestly, the only problem I've had with Vista other than some incompatibility with old programs/routers is for some reason it crashes all the time. (like if you blink an eye at it) Seriously annoying. Fortunately, its recovery systems are far more advanced than anything I have ever seen in my life, so I've never lost any information because of it. It does take mad long to boot up though.....(Think 90-110 seconds)

btw, for those who don't know, Windows 7 is the temp name of the next Windows operating system. Order is this: ancient OSs, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, (I think they may have numbered 95 and 98 the same) Windows XP (v. 5), Windows Vista (v. 6) and Windows 7.

 the next Windows after Vista

I'm sure the next XBOX console will come with windows (whatever) when it launches. Consoles are getting so complex, they definitely need some form of OS on them. It will be MS's big stick to hit Sony with.

PS - I'm still running 2000 at home, and have no desire or inclination to upgrade at all. My next home "PC" will almost certainly be a Mac.

My father is not a PC person - and when he upgraded, I warned him NOT to get Vista. The number of issues, and the amount of time & money it has cost him is simple ridiculous (they run a motel, and have the software he was using just didn't work at all).

For those who think this is a fast upgrade cycle, remember that at the end of next year, assuming Window 7 actually is released on time, it will have been 3 years since Vista went RTM.

A 3 year gap is not unusual. The 6 year gap between XP and Vista is unusual.