Vista probably does a lot of things well, but most users never find out, because they quickly run out of patience with the OS's sluggish performance, software incompatibility issues, and breathtakingly annoying pop-up security alerts. Simply said: People want to stick with their older, sturdier, tried-and-true Windows XP.

Complicating things is the fact that XP is slated to be pulled off retail shelves in June, with a phased withdrawal of technical support after that. Most new PC systems come preloaded with Vista, and finding a new XP system at the store is getting harder by the hour. (In fact, industry research group IDC forecasts that 94 percent of new Windows machines for consumers worldwide will run Vista.) I have personally known several people who have bought new Vista PC systems, freaked directly out after an hour or two, and returned the whole thing just to find another system preloaded with XP.

It's ridiculous, and you gotta figure Microsoft is getting depressed. Imagine an automaker launching their exciting 2008 models, only to find hordes of buyers coming back to the showroom to trade back down for the 2002 sedans.

Google around and you can find several online petitions urging Microsoft to extend the XP life cycle, keeping it available until the next OS release, currently targeted for 2010. Hopefully, this grassroots approach will gain momentum and convince Redmond to keep both Vista and XP viable. As one analyst noted, "You really can't make 69 percent of your installed base unhappy with you."

 Well, you can. But you tend to go out of business. Unless you're a multinational information technology titan with the power and resources typically reserved for superpower nation-states and mid-level cosmic dieties.

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