I received a promotional email from Microsoft last week, with the company informing me that it was "clearing out our cupboards" and so thought it might be "nice" to give away some Window's software.

All I had to do to enter the contest to win some of the swag was to write in 20 words or less what I "love about Windows Vista". After one year of using Vista I just could not find 20 nice words to say about the newest Windows platform.

Why, I ask myself, would anyone want to migrate over from Windows XP, a perfectly good platform, to Vista, which is top heavy and considerably slows down my laptop?

The reaction against Vista can be seen on the streets, so as to speak, and Microsoft had better start listening to its clients rather than forcing them to new upgrades simply as a means of keeping its revenues flowing.

Many businesses have simply delayed the switch, a sure sign of protest.

This week Microsoft stopped making XP available to retailers and computer makers, meaning the boxes you see on the shelves or the pre-installed versions on machines on sale are among the last copies consumers can still buy.

The decision is part of Microsoft's strategy to push people to migrate to Vista, XP's successor. Meanwhile Microsoft expects to release Vista's successor platform, Windows 7, sometime in 2010. How is that for cynical software planning?

For current XP users (I use a copy on my desktop) Microsoft said it would provide full technical support to the end 2009, and limited support to 2014.

Meanwhile about 210,000 XP users have signed a petition posted by InfoWorld to keep the platform. In what I admit is a publicity stunt, the magazine sent the list to Microsoft's head honcho Steve Ballmer.

Given the software giant's need to keep the revenue's flowing, this is one petition that will go nowhere. Still, the letter sent by the online magazine emphasises that even the techies do not like Vista.

"Our readers have frequently voiced their frustrations about software incompatibilities, arbitrary UI (user interface) changes, expanded hardware requirements, and altered security business rules," the letter stated, noting that the magazine had also heard from many who are "clearly satisfied with Vista".

All the petition really asks is for Microsoft to continue to supply XP for a few more years, until 2010, when the next version is released.

The magazine also wants Microsoft to continue to allow hardware vendors such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo to offer 'downgrade' options that enable customers to replace preinstalled copies of Windows Vista with Windows XP.

In effect businesses would be able to skip the need for a Vista upgrade, if Microsoft decides to heed the readers. Sounds reasonable to me. This step, if taken by Microsoft, would save businesses thousands, if not millions of bucks in integration costs. My advice is to hold out and keep your fingers crossed.

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Whether it can be built or not, the rotating tower looks like a wonderful architectural concept as seen at www.dynamicarchitecture.net

Rotating restaurants built on top of stationary towers have long been a feature of many cities. Think of the CN Tower in Toronto.

However the Dynamic Tower, as conceived by architect David Fisher, will have 80 pre-fabricated apartments that will spin independently of one another. The concept means the whole tower will change its shape over the course of a spin cycle.

Fisher is billing it as the world's first moving building, which is due to be built in Dubai, an announcement he made last week.

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