Or perhaps not, if this Seattle P-I survey of media sources is broadly reflective of general attitudes toward the not-quite-new-anymore operating system.

Citing year-end wrap-ups in Wired, CNET, PC World, and Gizmodo, the P-I finds a variety of disappointing appraisals of Vista's product performance. While it's true that Vista is an easy target right now, each of the cited sources has a criticism that rings true, from "New operating systems are supposed to run smoother than older ones" to "Five years in the making and this is the best Microsoft could do?"

Still, you have to wonder if the real indictment here is of the marketplace. Although Vista sales pretty clearly haven't been the Wildfire that Microsoft initially sought to portray it's also pretty clear that most people running Windows will eventually upgrade to Vista; and if it's really so lackluster (and it is) but you're willing to shell out hard-earned cash for it anyway, then you deserve whatever dreck gets spooned out to you.