I don't know why the people hate Vista, but it was my favorite Windows version ever. I like the glowing transparent bars so much in it. It was first, as far as remember. Some KDE window managers also had it but windows's was so much better. I think it is also important, I find it very attractive when the title bars are glowing and transparent.
Yes I remember driver compatibility issues, especially for graphics drivers. It was running it with some sort of undergraded flag and disabling enhanced visual mode, and actually with that flag, the windows vista looked and worked like Windows XP. I think Windows is the best when it comes to backward compatibility in comparison with others. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Yes! Even though I prefer "flat" instead skeuomorphism, which imposes real materials (wooden, notebook, etc) in a 2d surface (a display), I think. Glowing-glass looks much more realistic and complete.
