Vista turns 1; users' attitudes mixed: Microsoft's operating system poses upgrading challenges.

Compatibility is usually as important for the home or work office as it is for personal relationships. For Microsoft's Vista software, getting a second date with a consumer could be tricky.

According to a Jan. 30 report by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Microsoft has reported more than 100 million copies of the operating system licensed since it became available. Introduced to the public with an American nostalgia-induced ad campaign, Vista has a seemingly even number of fans and critics, many of whom are likely using older OS software such as Windows XP or Windows ME.

Bill Gates recently called Vista the "best new product of the year." Some users would disagree. Ed Bott, co-author of the book Windows Vista Inside Out, told the Post-Intelligencer that one of Vistas challenges has been the explosion of hardware, software, devices, and networks that the operating system has to work with. He added that even if Microsoft offers a better rate of hardware and software compatibility than in past Windows versions, chances are good that any given user will encounter a problem, considering everything people ask their computers to do.

But hope is becoming just a click away. Bott said that the Vista situation has improved noticeably over the past year, as Microsoft has released a series of online updates to boost reliability and compatibility. "The state of improvement--the continuous, incremental improvement--has been impressive. That's been different from the way that it always was before."

Microsoft managers reiterated the growing number of improvements being made for consumers. One official told the Seattle newspaper that Vista supports more than 40,000 hardware products now than the 23,000 it was capable of supporting at the time of its release.