Whats the Real Problem with Windows Vista

Vista, the latest of the Microsoft family of operating systems has yet to gather significant percentage in both the home and business operating systems market.The last unsuccessful OS by the software giant was windows ME but that millennium release was just around the start of Microsoft establishing a sturdy replacement OS to windows NT. Quickly following the windows 98 release was Microsoft 2000, which more resembled the NT look and feel as opposed to the flashy lightweight OS that was the windows 95 successor windows 98. So the question remains, why has vista done so poorly and received so much bad reviews. Why is it that most of the people are refusing to switch over to the new OS. Is windows vista that bad or is windows XP that good its too expensive, not worth it or combination of some or all of the above?
Before I start to explore the differences, let me state that I was involved in the Beta testing program for Windows Vista along with Microsoft Office 2007. I am a computer programmer and systems administrator by training and profession, I have been working in the Information Technology sector since 1997, and have played with tons of operating systems and systems software.
Windows Vista in my opinion had no real structural flaws, or weakness, however as with the trend of each next generation software of all kinds, heavier load that is placed on the hardware and amount of memory required seems to increase with each new software version. Vista is no different, it requires a lot more memory that windows XP and 2000, and much bigger hard drive than those prior operating systems. So systems that work well with XP will be much slower in comparison on the new vista This however was not a major stumbling block with other operating systems upgrades before. Microsoft 2000 for instance would work without major problems on 64Megs of Ram, XP would be crying and struggling on so little memory. So could this be the factor that is hindering Vista so much. Based on the software trends, in terms of memory usage and CPU requirement I disagree. Computer hardware has steadily kept pace with the demands of software and the prices have fallen in comparison so everything seems to be on the same scale for the new windows operating system release.
In my opinion, the cause for the apparent lack of mass migration of the window Vista operating system is the fact that XP and more specifically XP with service pack 2 is a very stable stable operating system. Probably the best home operating or i dare to say operating system that Microsoft has released to date, well maybe with the exception of Microsoft Vista. Prior Microsoft home release, i.e 98 and 95 the frequency of having to reload your operating system , problem with getting devices drivers, and software crashes and the general instability made the switch to new version of the software somewhat of a no "brainer". However this is not the case with windows XP and it various editions. With no major problems, apparently flaw, except for the now and again security updates, no major viruses, software crashes, have cripples windows bases machines in the last few years. Thus showing the reliability and quality of the XP operating system.
From a system administrators standpoint and for users that constantly change settings I could understand some of the frustration with the enhance security features in Vista. However with the attacks on the operating system by viruses and malware in the early 2000 years the features are there to protect the general users for having their computer crippled. Vista also works great with wireless connections and add support for the new IPV6 standard,*XP also has support for IPV6, whilst vista it came on by default* which seems to be slow in being adopted and put in full production. Even google launched their IPV6 website with the announcement that normal internet names will run out in about 3-4 years. Vista also comes with the new searching capabilities, along with data encryption, fast startup and sleeping, and showing down. It also comes with some built in diagnostics test that will have users provide more useful information to themselves and to technician in resolving problems along with some speech recognition software.
Personally, I do not see anything wrong with the windows vista operating system, I believe it is a solid product that is pretty good and I would glad make the switch to vista. First I have to get the supporting hardware to go along with it, which I suspect is the same viewpoint or better than most of the general public. But Microsoft is already preparing for the successor to vista, so they might never be a need to switch to vista, just an update straight to the new version. People will probably be at that time, tired of windows XP and looking for something new, whilst for now they are content with old faithful.