I have a home built computer that I have been running Linux on for quite a while. I decided to add Win XP to it recently, so that I can take advantage of a few web sites that use ActiveX controls, one of the few things that Macs just can't do. My monitor (Viewsonic VP2130b) has two video inputs, so I connected both my Mac and this PC to the same monitor and I can switch the display back and forth at the touch of one button. Not quite VMWare Fusion, but not a bad setup.
I got a fresh copy of Win XP via eBay and installed it yesterday. Whilst Vista continues to make negative headlines with its huge hardware footprint, its massive resource needs and its ongoing problems, this new copy of Win XP just slid right onto the computer like a hand into a glove. The install has to go down in my books as one of the easiest and most complete OS installs I have ever done. It picked all of the hardware right away, with the exception of a third party IDE controller I had added (in addition to the two on the motherboard).
The machine is unconditionally stable, very fast and almost a pleasure to work with.
Against a backdrop like XP, I can see why Vista is struggling so hard. We can only hope that Vista fades away quickly, replaced by a hopefully more capable successor, Windows 7.
None of this makes me pine to use Windows again though. The whole time I am in Windows I miss "simple things" like my widgets, my menu bar meters, and lots of other trappings of Mac OS X. Nonetheless, I felt compelled to add a comment about XP vs. Vista based on this very pleasant install experience. Microsoft got a lot of stuff right with XP.