The Windows operating system is Microsoft's flagship product and a brand that has literally become synonymous with the Redmond company. But the latest iteration of Windows, released to manufacturing and to businesses in November 2006, and to the general consumers in January 2007, is still getting a consistent amount of criticism. But a few weeks short of its first year since Windows Vista hit the shelves, one thing is obviously and painfully clear: Microsoft has missed the Wow by a long shot.

As a direct consequence, the consumer perception of Vista swings from an evolution to Windows XP, to a complete failure. However, it does all come down to consumer perception, and as the $500 million powered Wow marketing campaign that debuted alongside Vista was not sufficient, top company executives, Bill Gates included, attempted to fuel Vista's aura throughout 2007. But in a recent interview with Gizmodo at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Gates slipped up and showed signs that he's losing his faith in Windows Vista.

Gates was asked what product he wished Microsoft would have polished more ahead of shipping in the past five years. Without hesitation, Gates pointed to Windows Vista, but of course that he failed to actually mention the latest Windows client. Still, from his answer, it is clear that while not expressing displeasure with Vista (the operating system did sell over 100 million licenses in its first year on the market), Gates wanted Microsoft to soften all the rough edges of the operating system when it initially shipped.

Gates dodged the question and instead answered: "ask me after we ship the next version of Windows. Then I'll be more open to give you a blunt answer." The next version of Windows is currently planned for 2010. But until Windows 7 drops, the successor of Windows Vista, Microsoft will serve in early 2008 the first service pack for its latest Windows client. In December, Vista SP1 RC1 became available for download to all the users of the operating system, and on January 9, 2008, Microsoft started offering a Refresh Build of the service pack to some 15,000 testers via Connect.