I've been hearing about the decline of Microsoft for years from various other interests (Novell, Linux, thin client, opensource, and other groups).

Microsoft is still the desktop and server operating system and the business suite on the majority of desktops on the planet.

I haven't seen anything in Vista that will upset that. It responds to lots of different criticism angles raised by those looking to change the balance, and so those folks have to find new angles to criticize now.

Nothing has prevented me from watching videos, playing music, or burning optical media in Vista using the built-in tools. I haven't tried pirating anything so I can't comment on issues there.

There may be some specific issues that need addressing in Vista, but no show-stoppers by any means. It has a lot of improvements over XP - mostly in response to what comsumers and experts alike requested. Tough to blame Microsoft for that.

>Just wondering what you all thought. I've been reading some unsettling stories about a Vista-related issue that really is only starting to emerge because it's primarily a business policy issue rather than a beta-test issue. It has to do with built-in DRM policies in Vista and how the system cripples itself and also (unless recognized as "secure") disables high-end peripherals bought for media-rich systems such as HD monitors and digital sound systems. This is apparently intentional and done to protect so called "premium" content.
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>I'm almost 50, and I remember well the Microsoft of the 1980s. They seem to have become exactly the type of company that they themselves once held in great contempt.
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>The following “white paper” written by an Austalian medical physicist/ engineer, who apparently specializes in medical imaging, has attracted a lot of attention on many web sites. Read this, and please comment on your perspective of Microsoft's future:
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>http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html