Microsoft finally figured it out: Vista could be their last operating system, at least in the way they meant it so far. From Times Online:

Yet already the knives are out for Vista, a system that Microsoft executives admit will be the last of its kind, as their company finally gets to grips with the internet age. Vista is meant to be slicker and safer than its predecessors, but even after a two-year delay it is “not really ready”, Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner, said.

Now, this is a big step for them and for everybody (partners, customers) who accepted to be locked into their products. A very bitter medicine, but they eventually figured out there’s no choice:

The fear is that rivals will use the web to kill Windows. Google, a child of the online era, is the No 1 threat.

“Microsoft is way behind Google when it comes to the internet,” Rupert Godwins, the technology editor at ZDNet, the industry website, said. “Building Vista, Microsoft is still doing things the old way at the same time as it undergoes a big shift to catch up.”

[...]

Crucially, the Google word processor and spreadsheet package does not need Vista.

Well, it was about time they noticed. Welcome to the Internet.