It's now official: Windows Vista, Microsoft's over-hyped, underachieving operating system took top honors, winning the first-ever Fiasco Award announced in Barcelona, Spain.

The Fiasco Awards consists of a group of people linked to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector, which wants to reward the best non-successful projects in the area. (Source: itwire.com)

Out of 6,043 votes, 5,222 were garnered by Windows Vista, beating out other contenders including Google's Lively virtual world, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computer, and many others. (Source: sciam.com)

In 2005, Microsoft announced Windows Vista. In January 2007, after a mega public relations blitz, it hit the market. The need for many customers to upgrade their PCs was made less clear upon Window Vista's release.

Compatibility Problems And Difficult Navigation

The Fiasco Awards web site notes that Windows Vista was a) complicated to navigate and b) had significant compatibility problems. Collectively, this led many people to stick with Windows XP. Furthermore, many PC makers recommended that consumers avoid Vista altogether because it was such a failure. (Source: fiascoawards.com)

According to the awards organizers, Microsoft's recent introduction of Windows 7, Vista's successor, indicates that even Microsoft was disappointed with Windows Vista.

The lesson, according to the Fiasco Award web site, is that more testing should be done to check reliability and performance before rolling out major product-marketing campaigns.

Promoting Critical Spirit And a Positive Attitude Towards Failure

The purpose of the Fiasco awards is to "promote critical spirit and a positive attitude towards failure, which is a necessary stage in the road to success," say the awards organizers. (Source: fiascoawards.com)

Steven Sinofsky, senior vice-president for Microsoft Windows and Windows Live engineering group has reportedly admitted that Windows 7 has more than 2,000 bugs. Hopefully Microsoft won't make the cut when the 2010 Fiasco Awards are held. (Source: itwire.com)

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