I agree with your point where gaming is concerned. I am not much of a gaming fan and only play Diablo 2 Lord of Distruction. This game is several years old and will not play on Vista. I tried it but it caused my screen and video to go wacko. I play it on XP SP2 and it work well for me. I suppose in time there will be games made that will work great on Vista.
The bells and things does not bother me as I tend to push an OS to it's limits and I am curious about why it work and why not. I like to dig deep to find any glitch an OS has but so far I am satisfied with Vista.
The rule of thumb is, use only apps that is written for vista (not even Nero 6.6 will work) Most people hate an OS because they can't use older apps but that's their view point.
I can remember many post from people complaining that any and all Windows based OS was crapware and full of bugs, insecure etc. I remember also the changes made in XP SP2 and the noise people made. A secure OS will not allow programs to access the Kernel, therefore new apps must be written that conform to the new security.
That said, it will be some time before most people respect Vista for what it's worth; secure, bells and many things not available in the older OS's. I know one thing, I have not read an article whereby people play many games on Linux and MAC OS because those are not made for those reasons.
Imagine a time when all Windows based OS is used for productivity only and will not allow games, video, music etc. that we are now able to use. I think people will go batty.
My point is that a user should be mindful of his/her needs and the user should choose what's most impotant to them. Stick with XP if you use older apps, go Vista if you bought a new PC and will not use older apps. Use drivers signed by MS for use in said OS. Stop downloading crapware that cause the system to crash; it's not the system but the crapware that crashed.