When Windows Vista was released, Microsoft touted it as the most advanced, best version of Windows yet. And so far, it has lived up to it's word. Unfortunately, Windows Vista has an enemy that even the brightest engineers at Microsoft could not combat: utter incompatibility with XP programs that developers can not move to Windows Vista, for reasons unknown. This incompatibility has recently brought XP back from the grave Microsoft might want to imagine XP falling into. Windows XP is now available in product lines from such powerful OEMs as HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba.

Some private PC builders have stopped selling Vista computers altogether, because small-time customers do not like the possibility of incompatibility. In short, the market is keeping XP alive while Vista is given time to improve. Almost everyone that upgrades (and passes Microsoft's compatibility test) to Windows Vista is quite satisfied with it, and Vista Service Pack 1, which is rumored to be released sometime this year, aims to solve the compatibility problems between XP and Vista.