So basically this thread shows exactly what i mentioned.
Too many people who haven't even run the OS babbling about how it's no different from XP, & is crap, blah, blah.
The sad thing is that we have "knowledgeable" people like us on forums spreading misinformation, rather basing opinions off facts & actual usage.
I will be the first to say that Vista has its share of hassle associated with it, mainly since a lot of software companies didn't get around to to updating their applications/hardware for it.
But honestly, all things considered, they did a pretty good job overall i'd say.
And contrary to what some misinformers like to say, Vista itself is rock solid.
Issues with third party apps isn't the same thing.
Heck, they even make installing older peripherals very easy, as there are built in drivers for pretty much everything.
The one big drawback is that yes, you do need a good system to run Vista smoothly.
IMO, with XP, 512 MB RAM was the lowest anyone should run.
For Vista, that's now 1024 MB, so people with low end systems need not apply.
That being said, you can actually tweak Vista down to barely more RAM usage than XP if you want, but you'll be disabling many of features that make it worth running to an extent.
(
http://www.speedyvista.com/)
And when it comes to RAM, i love the fact that general performance literally scales with how much RAM you have, since Vista basically puts it all to good use via Superfetch.
With XP, if you aren't utilizing the RAM you have, it pretty much goes to waste.
Whereas with Vista + Superfetch, the more RAM, the merrier
The indexed search feature i love also, since i have a few too many unsorted mp3s.
It's pretty awesome if you want searches done in a hurry.
The one dropback thus far is that although it's marketed as a gaming platform, games still have some issues.
Once again though, the majority work just fine.
Anyway, i don't think Vista is perfect, & frankly, it took me a few months to get it set up how i want, but i most certainly prefer it to XP, & i think the majority of people here would too if they actually ran it & gave it a chance.