[js1138]

Your pricing is full of it. Windows XP retails for nearly $300, but no one pays that. Newegg sells XP Pro for $150, and it's about half that when purchased preinstalled on a computer.

Your analysis also sucks. By offloading the video processing to the video GPU, you reduce the load on the CPU. Vista will be no more demanding than a low-end video game. Which is to say, it will require a good 3d card. There are many cards in the under $100 range that will do just fine.

Business users will not require the fancy video effects and can turn them off.

[MadIvan]

I suggest you take it up with the author rather than with the fellow who posted it. It is certainly true that Windows has required increasingly powerful machines to run it as time goes on.

Ivan