There is a sole conclusion that can be drawn from the first approximately seven months that Windows Vista has been available to the general public - the operating system is in a lamentable condition. The fact of the matter is that Microsoft itself acknowledged that Windows Vista was not ready for the world back in January 2007. Through the voice of Mike Sievert, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Marketing, at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007, the Redmond company admitted that Vista was released at a point in time when the world wasn't "quite 100 percent ready for it."

The fact of the matter is that the "Wow is now" vision failed to materialize with the availability of the operating system. Vista was in fact crucified by the ecosystem built around it. The platform was plagued by every type of problems possible. Hardware and software incompatibilities, lack of driver and device support, vulnerabilities, poor system performance and reliability... Essentially, everything that could have gone wrong for Windows Vista did. And while compatibility and support are issues related to the environment surrounding Vista, Microsoft only took care of its own problems with the release of the Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Packs over six months after the operating system.

In this context, Windows Omerta codename Translucency is the biggest mistake that Microsoft made with Windows Vista SP1. The first service pack for the operating system has the potential to wipe clean all of Vista's faults, issues and the Wow's original incongruence with the world. Vista SP1 could have been the second coming. It could have patched the Wow. Instead, Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group scrapped all details Vista SP1 related under the carpet, choosing to keep users in the dark. Ignorance is bliss in Sinofsky's book, but what if Vista delivered a less than blissful experience?