Even though I tried an early beta, I have tried very hard to keep a more "consumer" eye towards Vista as it reaches release. I installed Vista Ultimate on my wife's computer (after upgrading the memory, of course) so I could perhaps get some reaction from someone who is not knee deep in tech talk. Perhaps I was inspired from Robert's comment about the Twit podcast where Paul Thurrott said Vista was changing the way he uses his computer. (maybe he's changed his opinion ) I've read some good (but hey integrating everything you've offered separately can't count as a meaningful upgrade, can it?) But I've also read Chris's posts from back in May about Vista Mistakes and then more . Trish was not impressed with the staid looking task bar (first question: "how do I change the color?" Answer : you really can't) And her overall impression after one week (granted it's early) was: "It's really not that different" (I know...