The linchpin of Microsoft's OS strategy for the next few years is Windows Vista, the long-delayed successor to Windows XP that was formerly known by its code name, Longhorn. With Vista, Microsoft aims to improve security, reliability, and manageability; provide a new API (application programming interface) set for developers; and deliver a heavily revamped user experience—all while ensuring compatibility with existing applications. Although Vista isn't due to ship until the second half of 2006, its first beta release this summer and subsequent builds released offer a tantalizing glimpse of what we're likely to see in PC operating systems in the near future.

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Microsoft's professed emphasis on security, for example, shouldn't come as a surprise given the continually growing menace posed by worms, spam, and spyware. While we don't expect Vista to eliminate those problems completely, it should help reduce their frequency and severity.