Jeff Woelker : Chicago SEO, SEM, and Online Marketing Consultant

Hooray! Hooray! Windows Vista is about to launch. insert cricket sounds

Why does it seem like nobody really cares about the launch of Windows Vista? I mean, when Windows 95 launched you had “Start me up” and when XP launched you had hoopla and grandeur associated with a societal revolution. So why don’t I feel like people are going to be running out and buying a new computer based solely on the operating system. Two words: Broadband Internet.

Prior to XP, the internet was young. Amazon and Yahoo were considered “advanced”. Now we have Flickr, NetFlix, YouTube, MySpace, DropSend, BackPack, Gmail, Google Calendar and million other web services that offload the functions of the desktop to online. One example: Gmail. Even if Microsoft gave me all the functionality of Outlook for free in a desktop application, it still won’t provide portability. I can check my email everywhere with Gmail, I cannot with a desktop application, until Google launches a desktop application The only caveat I would give for using a desktop application for this is, the lack of integration between Gmail and Google Calendar for setting up meetings and reminders, but that is getting better each day.

File sharing has often been a nightmare with 95 and XP and can be accomplished with a few short clicks using DropSend. Flickr allows me to store all my digital files online with a few clicks. This is available via XP, but I have to set up all kind of security and firewalls to prevent anyone else from getting in besides me.

What are the two saving graces for having everything on your desktop?

1. If the internet goes down, I still have all my stuff immediately available.
2. It’s probably faster to access and view your files, but in a few years, as broadband speeds increase, this will be less of an advantage.

So Microsoft, if you’re reading this. I’ll see you in a year or two. In the meantime, I’m glad you got a few things right in Vista.