every time this topic comes up i post this simple fact. here goes again:

i got a dell laptop: dual core athlon processor, 2gig ram, dedicated video card. Tried to run an avi on VISTA .... it broke up.

F.F.S.

VISTA / dotnet as dvelopment platform ... MS are sliding into the ashtray.

I've got a $500 stock Acer Aspire laptop with 1GB RAM, shared memory video card, blah blah blah, and I am ripping, burning, playing and producing video content all with zero problems. I think it must be you that is failing.

Remember XP product activation? Windows Genuine Advantage?

XP just seems better now because Vista is such a load. M$ peaked with Windows 2000. No activation, no WGA, no DRM. XP is just 2000 with a cartoon GUI.

Remember all the advanced features Vista was supposed to have? M$ had to strip them all out to deliver anything. Now it's just XP with Aero and extra suckage.

WTF does Vista do that you can't do with XP or Linux? And don't say "oh, it's so pretty", pretty you can add on to the OS you have. Vista is a solution looking for a problem to solve. Haven't all the real OS advancements already been made? And no, the GUI is not the OS, despite what M$ would like you to think. And what do you really need from a GUI? Fast, intuitive, and consistent? You can't get that by changing the damn thing all around with every new OS. I always run XP in "Classic" mode because that XP start menu is pure crap. And don't get me started about Cisco's web site that they feel compelled to eff up every year or so.........