Granted that they are some real issues in Vista but most of it is related to hardware and 3rd party software or drivers. You can't blame Microsoft if you don't find the driver for your printer, you should blame the manufacturer for not keeping up with tech changes  Regarding performance, if you have the right hardware, Vista runs as fast as the other OS.  Also keep in mind that You can't compare Vista's performance with XP as you can't compare XP's performance with 98!!! There will be Vista haters but when I saw Vista after XP, I said ''WOW''!!

You get features like aero interface, improved security, flip 3d, parental controls, windows media center, windows dreamscene, improved search and photo gallery, sidebar gadgets and so much more