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Whoa, I've been away from The Complex for quite a while. And out of touch, too – some passing canoe keeps cutting my trans-creek modem line. (Four times now, campers – that's enough!)

Despite the hubbub over MS and Yahoo! (and here's all you need to know about that), I have to add some quick miscellaneous notes to Anything but Speechless: 100 Things People Are Really Saying About Windows Vista, seeing as – well, people just keep talking about the product. (Question for Ballmer: Was "100 Reasons You'll Be Speechless" actually a veiled plea for everyone to stop talking about Vista?)

News hounds will have noted mounting discussion of the eventual successor to Vista, Windows 7. MS itself says the work will take three years (before delays, natch): "The specific release date will be determined once the company meets its quality bar for release." (Incidentally, said quality bar was set at "limbo" for Vista. "How low can you go?", indeed.)

But we have to stop discussion on Windows 7 right there, as Microsoft Watch entreats us to "...shut the hell up about Windows Seven". Really.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/windows_seven_e...

So back to the article's topics. Like this one: I'd noted that even Vista's retail box provokes ire for poor design, and wouldn't you know it – MS has had to post a how-to on opening the damn thing! ("Damn thing" being my words, not MS's.)

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/2e680b8d-211e-41c5-a...

As explained there, you start by cutting security seals – after which you're no longer secure, so watch out. First there's the Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity (i.e., the warning label), and – oh, read it yourself and get cracking. (Then again, if you haven't been able to open your Vista box, consider quitting while you're ahead.)

Oh, more bad news for the "vista whiners r just loosers any way" crowd. Much-respected publisher O'Reilly media offers a new "Windows Vista Annoyances" tome. Nothing wrong with that – all software is annoying – but check the book's opening line: "Windows Vista is like a papaya: sleek on the outside, but a big mess on the inside." Chimes in the book's reviewer, "For the individual considering a purchase of Vista and wondering if it can really be that bad, this book seems to indicate that yes, it is that bad."

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/30/1437237&from=rss

For the "There's nothing wrong with Vista or Vista sales" crowd, there's some supplementary reading at Microsoft Watch's "What Went Wrong with Windows Vista?" (Which isn't entirely negative, by the way.)

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/what_went_wrong_with_window...

(You can also find a glass-half-full of solace at "Enterprise Vista Adoption Is Better, Not Great".)

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/enterprise_vista_adoption_i...

On the compatibility front, this Vista piece was of modest interest: one PC gamer claims that Wine on Linux ran his Windows games better than Vista did. (Debate and name-calling rage thereafter, so make of that what you will. Sounds like fun to try, if nothing else.)

http://wastingtimewithmikeandari.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/linux-has-bett...

The serious "ouch", though, comes from another article of the sort I linked to aplenty: "It's Time for a Vista Do-Over", from PC Magazine. Scrap it and reset, the advice to MS goes. It's an interesting read, and not a bash-fest; like many tech columnists, the fellow wants to like Vista but just can't.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2254104,00.asp

Another title that says it all: "Why people hate Vista", from InfoWorld. (Thanks to CNET's Macalope for the link.)

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/05/06NF-save-xp-vista-hate_1.html

But to close, let's zoom out again from Vista and look at the bigger MS picture. Where's the company heading? For anyone wanting some nice pro-and-con balanced reading, check out the Motley Fool's take.

http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/01/23/microsoft-bear-argument.a...

It's a real tug of war, whose arguments sum up as such:

Microsoft in trouble: Billions spent for litle return; no traction in key areas like search; losses at online unit; Vista below expectations; Xbox troubles; poor future for staple high-margin software business; sinking relevancy.

Microsoft not in trouble: "Um, MS has lots of cash, and they've always been the biggest, so they always will be." Seriously, that's the bulk of it. (Come on, "supporter", I think you actually could have done better than that...)

http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/01/23/microsoft-bear-argument.a...

http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/01/23/dueling-fools-microsoft-b...

But, enough negativity. Perhaps it's time to cut Microsoft some breaks. Its Vista dud will certainly benefit from upcoming improvements, and that'll pretty much repair the company's reputation. (I mean, it's not like Microsoft is involved in stuff like baseless FUD, shady lobbying, or funny tax accounting, right?)