Windows Vista is approaching its first year on the market, taking into consideration the January 30th, 2007, consumer launch of the operating system. Considering the release to manufacturing and the business availability dates, Vista has already passed its first 12 months on the market in November 2007. Either way, the debut of 2008 is just about as good a time as any, to dray the line on the platform's performances in the past year. In terms of market share, Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, has already applauded Vista sales of over 100 million licenses. But when it comes down to the end consumer's perception of the operating system, Gates felt the need to jump in Vista's defense.

Without hesitation, Microsoft's Chairman pointed to Vista as the best new product in the past year, basing the perspective on user feedback. Gates answered a question from SeattlePI about the mixed reviews that have been orbiting around the operating system in 2007.

"Well, I think a lot of people would say it was the best new product of the year in terms of the neat, new things they're using in it. They also have very high expectations in terms of having all the drivers there and the compatibility. There's some of those areas where, as the year went on, we definitely did a better job on those things, and there's a bit of a lesson learned there", Gates stated.

And although Microsoft was aiming for twice the adoption rate of Windows XP with Windows Vista in 2007, a goal it fell short of, Gates underlined the fact that the latest Windows client is nothing short of a hit. From where Gates is standing, the sole problems with Vista appear to be support and compatibility, while the high requirements for the hardware operating system is just Microsoft's way of taking advantage of the hardware available on the market.

"This is a very successful product. We're very proud of it. I think you're starting to see people talk about the things that they really enjoy in it. There's a lot of hardware that's taking advantage of it. We're hard at work on the next big version of Windows, and it is the product that the industry tends to build its new applications on", Gates added.