Microsoft started work on the next version of its Windows operating system. Working under the codename Longhorn, Vista was initially set for release in 2003 and was planned to be a stop-gap between XP and Microsoft's next-generation operating system, codenamed Blackcomb.

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But as Longhorn gradually assimilated many of Blackcomb's intended features, the release date kept being pushed back. Then, in late 2004, Microsoft decided the codebase had become too unwieldy to manage, so it opted to start again and base it on the more rei iable Windows Server 2003. By the time Longhorn was re-dubbed Vista in mid-2005 and the first beta was released, Microsoft had spent four years working on it - it also still had another year and a half of development to go. With all that time taken in development,. and industry estimates of more than spent on it, everyone expected Vista to be even more popular than WindowsXP.