Microsoft began work on Windows Vista, known at the time by its codename 'Longhorn', in May 2001, five months before the release of Windows XP. Main article: Development of Windows Vista As of February 2022, 0.18% of PCs run Windows Vista. Mainstream support for Windows Vista ended on April 10, 2012, and extended support ended on Ap Windows Vista was succeeded by Windows 7. The market share of Windows Vista fell below 1% by the end of 2021, coinciding with the release of Windows 11. On October 22, 2010, Microsoft ceased sales of retail copies of Windows Vista, and the original equipment manufacturer's sales for Windows Vista ceased a year later. However, Windows Vista usage had surpassed Microsoft's pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users, with an estimated 330 million Internet users in January 2009. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista saw lower initial adoption and satisfaction rates than Windows XP. Criticism of Windows Vista includes its high system requirements, more restrictive licensing terms, lack of compatibility, longer boot time, and excessive authorization prompts from User Account Control. While these new features and security improvements garnered positive reviews, Windows Vista was also the target of much criticism and negative press. Windows Vista removed support for Itanium and devices without ACPI.

NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs. Windows Vista included version 3.0 of the. Windows Vista aimed to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. New features of Windows Vista include an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed ' Aero,' a new search component called ' Windows Search,' redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems, and new multimedia tools such as Windows DVD Maker. On January 30, 2007, it was released internationally and made available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace this is the first release of Windows to be made available through a digital distribution platform. Development was completed on November 8, 2006, and over the following three months, it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years earlier, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft's Windows desktop operating systems.

Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft.

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