https://ulveon.net/p/2026-06-04-a-eulogy-for-the-most-misunderstood-windows-version

Windows Vista feels like the runt of Windows’ lineage. A troubled and probably even rushed development cycle, combined with complacency on part of the OEMs with XP being very modest on hardware requirements, meant that Windows Vista got a bad rap amongst computer users for being slow and buggy, even nowadays. Its notoriety for being buggy became a joke on a British sitcom. Some will insist it’s unjustifiably terrible, but when you look at its history, you can understand why Vista was the way it was.

Not helping things was that a bug in Vista I encountered, where none of my standard peripherals worked, was the thing that led me to Linux via Ubuntu. If I had to choose between Windows not recognising basic devices or having my windows INCINERATE when closed, especially as an autistic teenager? Yeah, I’d go for Ubuntu. If that bug never happened, I could’ve been perfectly fine with Vista. I even put Vista on an old laptop over a decade ago, and it worked fine. Windows 7 does have some creature comforts like snapping windows, though…

This is a good post about the things that Windows Vista did right, and why they were necessary, even back then. It feels like the bad rap Vista got was more due to those two issues I stated earlier. Windows 11 is going through the same cycle, but in my opinion this cycle is more justified than with Vista, so due to its strong-handing and anti-consumer tactics (e.g. dark patterns to get people using an online account). It’s probably mainly because of the threat posed by the MacBook Neo being as affordable as it is that Microsoft is now changing course (sorry not sorry, but Linux is a rounding error).

Also, the theme on Ulveon’s site is absolutely brilliant.