Appearantly Microsoft has just announced that -Copeland-, um, I mean -longhorn-, no, wait, Vista! Thats it!.

Microsoft has just announced that Vista is going to come in 7 different versions. This is up from the already absurd 5.5 versions of Windows XP (somehow, I can’t count their crippled version for emerging markets as a full version).

One of the things that OpenSource has going for it is simplicity. You know you are going to get all the features, no need to consult some crazy comparison matrix to make sure you are picking the right version to get all the features you want/need.

Of course, this doesn’t really work for Microsoft, because it doesn’t let them maximize their profit, so they come up with 3 different “business” versions of windows, a couple different home versions and an Ultimate version in the hope that everyone will just give up in frustration and shell out for the most expensive version so that they can get on with their lives.

I guess we’ll see how it works for them, but it seems to me that this should be the time for Microsoft to be delighting their users, by making Microsoft software easy for them, by making them feel like they are getting a deal. Instead, they are making their users life difficult before they even start using the new version of their software, and they are making them feel like they are paying for each and every feature of the software, rather than getting a bargain.

Apple and Linux are looking better and better.