Interesting to note also that MS has already cut off some of the hydra's heads (Vista managers) and are now accelerating the release of Windows 7.

The problem that both M$ with Vista and Apple with Leper face is there's really not much more to be done with an OS apart from adding pointless eye candy.
Both seem to work just fine if you throw enough hardware at them but why would one.
Much the same goes for applications as well, one could argue in some respects even Vegas has taken the odd step backwards of late.
Bob.

<SIGH>

Any ideas on how to unload an unopened copy of Vista?

...even Vegas has taken the odd step backwards of late

Why would you say that Bob??? TBH, I have found Vegas Pro 8 to be the best release to date. I haven't had a single issue with stability, its features are about as good as it gets - at least for me. I'm using x64 XP Pro with an AMD 3800 X2 OC'd to 2.3ghz stable with 4GB of RAM and every single SONY App just works - as compared to the other offerings I have TRIED to get to work (Adobe's apps specifically). Resource management has been what I have come to expect from SONY's apps. My productivity has increased due to the stability I have found with each app I use (VP8, SF9, AP4). CS1 has been a little flaky at times, but I don't use it all that often as I'm doing more scoring in AP4 lately. If there were one thing I wish was a part of VP8 was a solid stabilization app for VP8, but the Deshaker script gets me by.

Vista is a whole different story.

Cliff Etzel
bluprojekt

this part was interesting too

Windows XP's end is nowhere soon, either. OEMs can ship Windows XP through June 30, and possibly later if Microsoft grants another extension. System builders can ship XP through the end of January 2009. There are plenty of very good XP applications, too, and not enough native Vista apps. XP will be competing with Vista for a long time yet, and stalling the Vista conversion process.

Vista has made those clever Mac/PC ads even more comical.

Vista is the best thing to hit Apple in a long time.

I run vista problem free, and as far as I can tell, the only real issue with it in general is that Vista drivers aren't out there a lot (happens with most new OS's) because until there's demand for them developers aren't inclined to make em.

I'm not sure why you guys seem to be so irritated with it, but perhaps if I were working on a machine that wasn't newly built I'd see some of the issues, however since all my hardware was manufactured within a few months of right now, I think it's all pretty much good in vista (apart from Proc, RAM and PSU).

I've heard the horror stories like the rest, but I don't crash out, I don't have any real issues at all, so just so you know, this Vegas/Vista user is issue free.

A lot of this same crap happened with XP at first too, and people weren't too inclined to jump from their 2K machines either.

didn't read the article but did it talk about how long horn was being created with a lot of beta programming software basically and (whoever chose to do that, don't ask me) Finally Microsoft had to scrap that whole process and start over more or less and created vista in a couple years or less, which in my mind makes vista not that bad, just too bad they weren't thinking straight to begin with.

Dave

I always regarded 98se as being a pretty usable OS, with the primary weakness being that it was built on a shaky code foundation and thus always a bit flaky and glitchy, with periodic reboots necessary. I never used W2000, but heard that it was very stable but not as "mainstream" with driver compatibility as 98se.

When XP came along it was touted as being the best of both 98se and W2000, and I think this has indeed proved to be the case.

What I object to with Vista is that it is obvious to me and apparently millions of others that it is a bloated-up rehash of XP with precious little in the way of "improvements" and with a heavy dose of DRM thrown in for good measure. Yet Microsoft insists we buy it and with few exceptions allows hardware vendors no other choice but to require Vista on their products.

It's this monopoly arrogance that really sticks in my craw. Back in the late 1960's there was a man named Chuck Colson working for Richard Nixon in the White House. He was known as a pretty ruthless operator, and had a phrase mounted in a picture frame behind his desk that read, "When you've got them by the b*lls, their hearts and minds will follow." I wouldn't be surprised if the senior Microsoft executives had a similar mindset.

Yes, you can buy Apple, or yes, you can install Linux Hardy Heron, but that's a very big mountain for most users to climb. Microsoft forces Vista on people because they can, and I resent that.