The biggest issue with Vista when it came out was lack of hardware support and drivers. That why people cried a lot. You have to consider that this was a new OS built from scratch.
If you got back when XP started. It was the exact same thing. Hardcore Win98 fans would spit at XP calling it bloated, buggy and hardware retarted.
For my part, i did not get Vista on day one, i got it 9 months after. With updated patches and drivers, i was very satisfied with it. BTW, my ancient 2000 era scanner and all my antiquated games works with Vista without any hiccups.
I see Windows 7 as a beautyfied Vista to make it more appealing. But don't kid yourself, because underneath 7's shiny exterior is Vista's core engine.
I'm anxiously waiting for the REAL SP2 to come out. When it does, Vista SP2 will stay for quite some time. Who knows... SP3???