Windows Vista and the NeoTechs

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I would just like to follow up on yesterday's posting on the petition to save Windows XP - due to be retired in June of this year.

Windows Vista is sort of like a metaphor for the Iraq war. Everyone knows it was a big mistake, but the architects of both continue to live in denial. Why can't Steve Ballmer and George Bush just admit they made a mistake and then we can move on to cleaning up the mess?

Microsoft is kind of in a operating system quagmire. It can't go backwards and no one wants to go forward with Vista. Instead of Neocons, we have NeoTechs.

Neocons claim the surge is working. NeoTechs claim Vista is the highest selling O/S ever (then look at the market share - oops!).

Neocons believe in two views; theirs and theirs. Neotechs believe in two operating system platforms; Vista and Vista. Open source is heresy. It's right up there with Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights.

Neocons are lame ducks. NeoTechs are just lame.

Technology is changing, rather the business of technology and the voice of its users. Open source is here to stay and gaining steam. Users would rather give up a few bells and whistles on their software, if it would just load faster and crash less. P.S. The Mac is gaining steam too, making new in roads with business users.

Bottomline: The old operating system war, just like conventional ground wars, is over. The web itself is really The Platform.

For those of you who took high school Latin, you know "neo" means new. Don't be fooled, in the case of both neocons and NeoTechs, it's more like neolithic.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio