i really don't get all the complaining.
Up until...2003? Some where around that time frame, I was using Windows 98. It was finally stable, everything worked fine, my Voodoo graphics card the size of a football field cooperated and all was fine in Oz. The system I'd been using was only capable for 768mb of RAM, and I'd paid a fortune for a then advaned CD burner.
Why, do you ask? Because when WindowsXP was first released you would be god damned not to have a blue screen a day. 0E stop errors were the message of choice; it like any Microsoft product first released really didn't have a fine comb through its tangled mesh of hair. It was done, it functioned enough, and people were told to love it.
My biggest bitch and moan about the deal is having to do an uphill battle to register your stuff, hope and pray that the product you pay for will continue to receive some form of support after a while (which, don't believe Microsoft when they tell you they can't/won't update any of their old Operating Systems. The shit's on their webpage to get service packs. You just need to dig far and deep to find them.)
It's a mega-corporation that most certainly has the computer market by the balls. As such, they have tremendous power over the market and how it can and will operate. Sure, you may hate the hell out of Vista, but in the next few years XP will receive no more support officially from them nor can you activate that 200-300 dollar disc you purchased. Use it for the 90 days you can by modding their count-down widget, then reinstall.
I was side railed some time ago. Basically when they release shit it's forced on everyone and it more than likely never works correctly. You're forced to buy new hardware because the chances of finding a compatible driver are none.
Also. Windows 7? IT USES THE GOD DAMN VISTA KERNEL. IT'S VISTA SERVICE PACK GOD-DAMN 2 WITH THE REGISTRY TWEAKS SO IT DOESN'T CHEW UP RAM.
Fuck you, Microsoft.