Very easy to blame Microsoft.... the hardware was made before the software (Vista) (in most cases)... Therefore its the software makers responsibility to make sure that everything is compatible.
Its like all the car tyre manufacturers making a new car tyre made of concrete and blaming the roads for not being made of rubber.... the tyres must be made to suit the road that its clients use.. not vice versa!
Its still not Microsoft's responsibility to make drivers for every other manufacturers. Its up to the Manufacturers to also come to the table and help MS create drivers that work with Vista. Microsoft have Generic drivers for alot of hardware, but its impossible to expect them to have drivers for every single peace of hardware that's out there, and that's why its the manufacturer's problem entirely, and not MS's.
There has been lots of drama eg: Creative Labs
Lots of the older cards are just not supported in Vista, Creative will not write drivers for Vista, Why, Because the cards are getting old, this isnt MS's Fault now too is it ??? These companies want you to purchase newer hardware, they're businesses after all!.
So yes, Its very easy to blame MS because that's the product that's infront of you, and if it don't work, blame that... yea very easy... and most ignorant people will not think about the other factors and just cry foul because its just that simple, and most people are just not tech savvy enough!.
I have 4 pc's, all running vista here, (2x Quads, and 2x HT3Ghz) and they all work like a dream, no driver problems, printers are working, bluetooth is working, and i hardly ever EVER reboot unless a program requires me too, My pc's stay on all the time!, and infact since i purchased my copies of Ultimate on Launch day, i have not ever had to re-installed, and i've never had a bluescreen with Vista.
I'd lie if i say it has no bugs, but i've managed get to understand them, and fix them with little effort!.
So if you're a Linux Die hard fan that's willing to put up with Ubuntu and the lines of scripts etc, or a Mac Fanatic that's hell bent on proving MS is stealing Apple's idea, too bad!. I'm happy those OS's work for you! Vista works for me, and when MS releases something better than Vista, I'll be there, oh yes, I'll gladly spend the money getting my system up to spec!
Its a little petty to bitch and moan that Vista doesnt run properly on your 1.7 but Ubuntu does A,B,C just as good blah blah blah... Stay with Ubuntu! If you're happy with it don't buy that new Quad Core or AMD, you cling onto your 10 year old 1.7ghz pc!...
XP boys... Yea XP chugs ahead very nicely, Brilliant peace of software, it works on almost everything from a P2 onwards... If you don't like the Bling in Vista, stick with XP, infact, switch the Graphical enhancements (the few that is there in XP) off, you clearly like basic (NT) look, and that works for you. Infact you can do the same with Vista, switch off the Bling!
My 2c worth!.