@backward compatibility This doesn't really matter anymore because you can just make a VM with the OS you need and install your program there. There are both

@backward compatibility This doesn't really matter anymore because you can just make a VM with the OS you need and install your program there. There are both free and open source virtualization programs. @Vista The UAC is annoying for programmers; that's the real problem with it. I've even had trouble doing reasonable actions in the designated folders (make a new directory, for example). Yes, it is annoying for customers too, but that it annoys programmers is an unforgivable sin. Having just interviewed with a couple of people from Microsoft, it's clear that they are working on interesting problems and that they aren't dumb. Individual Microsoft engineers seem to be just as dedicated and smart as the rest of us. Some of these decisions must come out of committees with values different from the individual engineers. Their major concern was security, which they've frankly fixed in XP at this point. I haven't had virus software on my XP machine for 18 months and I haven't had a problem. So, the major feature of Vista (more security) was filtered back into XP, thus there is no drive to change to Vista.