Be the next Nostradamus

The day you've all eagerly awaited is finally here--Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, has been released! Did any of you camp overnight outside your local electronics store to be the first to upgrade to this new gem of an OS? Well, you likely weren't the first in line; after all, you couldn't miss Bill Gates' celebratory webcast from Times Square. I know you were glued to your screen... and it's not as if you could connect to the Internet to watch it on your "approved for Vista upgrade" machine by wardriving via wireless cash registers at the store.

I just don't understand why I'm not seeing "Why I love my new Windows upgrade" postings leading Slashdot's current menu of articles...

I'll admit I'm planning to upgrade soon... that is, I need a new computer. Over the past four and a half years I've filled my computer up to the point of sloth, and am tired of hearing that I have less than 100 mb of freespace, or that my virtual memory is too low and my memory paging file size needs to be increased. I try to be a loyal person, but I'm sorry, Computer, I need to supplement you with the technological equivalent of your great granddaughter.

So, any predictions on how quickly consumers will turn to Vista? On when the first patch will be released?

Or do you just like the idea of making predictions, like Nostradamus did? A few days ago I was channel surfing (slowly, so as to SEE what was on, not so quickly you miss everything the way guys do it) and came across a National Geographic channel show on... well, actually, I have no idea as to the overall theme for the show. Anyway, they were talking about Nostradamus, and some famous academic expert type said that Nostradamus was "accurate" purely due to the large volume of prophesies he made. He theorized that anyone who wrote a prophesy a day would get it right a certain percent of the time. So if you've always wanted to be a Nostradamus, now's your chance! You can start your "prediction a day" composition right now. Take inspiration from the things you see around you. Be sure to throw in sadness, despair, and a little bit of catastrophe--people love that stuff. At least, they like reading about it...

Here's a doom and gloom prediction to get you started:

The fire sprang up from among the trees. It blazed north, then east, then north again, before a light wind carried it back toward the west. The raging furnace devoured all in its path, including all the cute little bunnies.

See? Anyone can do it.

*UPDATE*

You know how much you love watching slideshows of distant acquaintances' family vacations to places you wouldn't want to visit anyway? Well, lucky for you, you can experience similar joy by viewing these screenshots of Vista. It's so real, you'll feel as if you're living it yourself--startup, then loading. Then the installation process. If you want to experience the glory of the new OS without the drain to the bank account, just go through the slides! It's almost as good as using the real thing...