“Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. [...]the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions."

Read more here to learn what you are getting with Vista.

It will not be much more secure than Windows XP anyway. There is already a growing lucrative market for exploits. The malware market appears to be becoming more lucrative than the legitimate security business. Malware authors know that little fundamental has changed in Vista and are looking forward to it's consumer release. So threats will continue to be enabled by Microsoft's architecture.

More here and here on how DRM in Vista makes computing more painful for users.

And all this content protection will make Vista less reliable than any previous version of Windows. Not because of attacks, but because Vista is defective by design. Read the linked articles to understand why.

Why is Microsoft doing this? Power and Control!

Microsoft will obtain complete control over every Microsoft using computer going forward thus obtaining the monopoly on the distribution of digital content on that platform. They will control all distribution of both software and content music/video/data end to end. They can erase anything from your (actually their) computer anytime it connects to the internet and you will not be able to use existing content if your computer does not connect to the Internet regularly. Which means you do not control anything on *their* (oh you thought it was yours!) computer.

Microsoft's intent is to kill the open platform that is the PC.

Microsoft is lying about how these new restrictions are required to protect you. That these are security features to stop all the bad guys. That is complete bunk as is proven by the stable non-hacked existence of both Apple MacOS X and completely open Linux operating systems. Neither of which requires antivirus software to be used safely on the internet.

In addition, Microsoft will blame all these new restrictions on the content industry: Movie Studios, Record companies, etc. An industry that is actually giving up all their control to Microsoft, but appear to be way toooo dumb to know it. Only customers lose now and the content industry loses later, as Microsoft becomes more powerful than ever with each Vista sale. "Where does Microsoft want you to send your money today?"

Microsoft Vista is for suckers! But you soon won't be able to buy a Windows PC that is not Vista. No one who makes or sells Windows PCs will tell you what is really going on: Dell, HP, eMachines, Sony, Toshiba, BestBuy, CompUSA etc. ONLY make money by selling you into the trap. You will never get the real story from a PC seller.... ever! These vendors would sell you slow poison if they thought they would not get caught and Microsoft promised them an antidote (or better yet "Palliative care" that you must keep repurchasing) they could sell you later.

The paradox in all this is that Vista will fail as a way to secure content against computer owners, that is except Vista computer owners...since Microsoft will automatically update Vista computers to protect content that computer owners get acccess to due to flaws in their model while non-Microsoft systems will be able to freely use such content.

So your only choice is to move away from Windows. That or pay for and lock on the leg irons! Fake diamond encrusted leg irons with extra bling are available for an extra charge.

Are consumers dumb enough to buy Vista? Hard to say. If consumers learn what is in Vista they will be relunctant to buy it. So Microsoft will pull out all the marketing stops to sell it. Every Windows industry pundit (like this guy's review) and seller of PCs is going to push like crazy to sell it. Sellers will downplay or not even mention the issues and push the pretty interface. Consumers who think easy means that *they* are in control may well buy in. Many will not question their loss of ownership and control until they've spent lot's of money on all new hardware and program upgrades. By then it is way too late to economically escape and Microsoft has succeeded in selling them a shiny set of leg irons.

Here is another view of Vista and DRM. Summary: Since everyone in the PC supply chain makes money, they will happily lie and sell leg irons to every consumer at a profit, but content won't really be any more secure in the long run.... it is already being broken.

There are also a lot of good comments from readers.