After five long years, we finally shipped Windows Vista. Whew.

As you probably know, Vista was previously codenamed "Longhorn". It was named after the Longhorn Saloon up in Whistler, BC. The bar is halfway between the Whistler and Blackcomb ski mountains. The release was supposed to be the fast release between "Whistler" (Windows XP) and "Blackcomb" (the next great thing). Oops. Well, it took a little longer than we thought, but the result is actually pretty darn good.

The ending was a little anti-climatic for me since we had already shipped IE7 on XP. We didn't have a lot of drama at the end like I'm used to. This is actually good and the way you want it, but it still felt like an odd let down for something so big. It's a bit surreal to finally have it out though, like I can't quite believe we actually did it.

We're having a big ship party this afternoon. I think that will help make it feel real to me.

Look for Vista in stores and on PCs starting January 30, 2007. Really.