I only use an OS to run the progs I want to run (usually games).
I hardly want an OS that, no matter how pretty, uses resources that I need to keep my fps & frag rate up.
(OK, so nothing is going to help my frag rate, but at least I want to die with a decent frame rate....)
I think Clingy.. yourself and me are all in the same boat Bob... I've not even seen Vista... and have no plans to either ! This thing at work has just been upgraded however.. from 2k to XPpro
tbh be loads easier if games were fat binaries that you just complied yourself.
the os comes with a complier thats easy to use and u get the game on DVD n of u go...
Vista is pretty and has better security than XP, but its lots slower and the security advantages anre usually disabled by the user, or it is incorrectly set up..eg running the machine from an admin account all the time.
I would not recommend Vista to anyone, certainly not a 64bit version.
Maybe after the fixes have been implemented the performance issues will have been fixed. Maybe.
XP pro is stable and has lots of stuff to fiddle with, XP Home is fine too, the 32 bit version of these being my choice. If you want it to look prettier you can find 3d windows and things like that as freebies.
Maybe in a few years there will be a reason to go 64bit with an OS but at the moment 3Gb of RAM works well enough
Not strictly true yes Vista fixed a lot the XP Security issues but opened a whole new can of worms as well. To the point that Cisco where not going to support it.
I've not even seen Vista... and have no plans to either ! This thing at work has just been upgraded however.. from 2k to XPpro 
