Microsoft says next Windows won't be as annoying

[nihil]

OK, I know that our pricing structure is different from yours, but unless you bought a top end XP box close to the release of Vista or a box with a free upgrade to at least Home Premium, I really don't see why you would want to "upgrade" to Vista.

My personal preference is to upgrade the existing machine to run its existing operating system with a better hardware platform. For a new OS I would recommend a new hardware platform.

AS for hardware failures, I would add PSUs and modems, but I guess that partly depends on the quality of your power supply and frequency of electrical storms.

To put that in perspective, over here many modems are provided "free" by your ISP, so they really are going to be top of the range aren't they

Similarly, OEMs do put top quality PSUs in their boxes don't they?

EDIT:

I think that the upgrading OSes issue is dealt with in that well known IT manual called the Holy Bible...................don't put new wine into old wineskins.

Seriously though; given that hardware is getting more powerful and operating systems more demanding, upgrading the OS cannot really be expected to give you performance even as good as the original OS that was intended to run on a particular box?