The maturity of the ecosystem of software and hardware products built around Windows Vista contributed not only to the evolution of the operating system's level of performance, along with Service Pack 1, but also to making irrelevant the vast majority of incompatibility problems which affected the RTM build of the platform. With the introduction of the Windows Vista Compatibility Center, Microsoft revealed that in excess of 9,000 products are fully compatible with the client, including over 5,500 devices and more than 3,500 software programs. In addition to the center, the Redmond company has also made available for download the “Windows Vista Application Compatibility Downloadable List for IT Professionals”.

The resource features a list of approximately 4,000 applications that are either compatible with or certified for Windows Vista. The document is offered under the Open XML file format for Office Excel 2007, but it can be accessed via Office Live Workspace or through OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 in the absence of the Redmond company's productivity suite.

“The Application Compatibility List for IT Professionals is a Microsoft Office Excel-based spreadsheet containing software applications which have earned the status of 'Certified for Windows Vista' or 'Works with Windows Vista'. Additionally, this list contains applications with a status of 'Compatible'. 'Compatible' means that the application has been reported by the publisher as compatible with, or supported on, Windows Vista. These applications have not gone through the Microsoft Windows Vista Logo Program. The Application Compatibility List for IT Professionals is current as of July 31, 2008,” Microsoft revealed.

The software products labeled as “Certified for Windows Vista” or “Works with Windows Vista” have been tested in accordance with the operating system's logo program criteria. The applications which are deemed compatible have only been reported so by the developer. The list contains exactly 3,995 applications which play well with Windows Vista.