Chalk this Infoworld writer up as yet another victim of history:

Twenty yeas from now a new generation of computer users will look back on the operating systems of today with the same bemused smile we look back at the cars of the late 1950s and early 60s. They had huge fins, were the size of a small yacht and burned up just about as much gas.

That’s right, I’m comparing Apple OS X 10.5, or Leopard, and Microsoft’s Windows Vista to those old behemoths — big and flashy and totally unnecessary.

Sorry, cars today are bigger and just as inefficient. Who needs fins when you can carry hundreds of pounds of roof-rack rails around. Hello, chrome spinners?

Conversely, as I’ve mentioned before, in raw terms cars of a hundred years ago were more efficient than those today:

“In 1908 Ford autos got 28 miles per gallon and today fuel efficiency for automobiles averages 25 miles per gallon. Is that progress?� asked Allen Hershkowitz, PhD, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council during a Nov. 9 lecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

So what does that tell you about the future of OS design? America needs Vista like a soccer mom needs an SUV, but we’re talking want here. Want is a whole different ballgame.

A Microsoft security executive released data Thursday showing that, six months after shipping Windows Vista, his company has left more publicly disclosed Vista bugs unpatched than it did with Windows XP.

Can we assume the unnamed executive is looking back with a bemused smile?