I would be the typical consumer.
Meaning I have basic knowledge of computers and systems. There are lots of people who know less than me.
My point is, your basic consumer which makes up 90% of the computer owners don't care which system or how much ram of this or that.
Microsoft lives off the basic consumer so it is in their best interest to make everything work easily to the digitally impaired. If they didn't do that, they would rely on the 10% that know what they are doing.
They are not going to get rich off 10%. Therefore I am not too awfull worried about it.
I'm not trying to slam your computer but I would upgrade the memory... you will notice an increase in speed... at least pick up another 512MB stick to put in there... check and see what it has in it right now... IF it has 1 512MB stick right now, then just get another 512MB stick or get a 1GB(If you want to do it right get the 2GB kit then sell the memory thats in it right now on ebay)...
What you and 90% of the consumers want then is something that works out of the box. That isn't the case with this OS. It will take six months to a year to get the bugs out. In the meantime you don't have the choice of getting something that works right away. You proved that with your post tonight. Now if you went out and bought everything new, you probably wouldn't have had that problem.
Now, the rest of us don't want to have that problem either. And when I have bought a PC from Dell, they make it very clear that trying to make older hardware work with their new computers is not their problem and to contact the hardware manufacturer to get drivers, software patches, etc. You can argue whether the OS manufacturer, MS, or the maker of the peripheral should try to get the old equipment running. Maybe not; they want to sell new equipment to you. But if you want choice to install a good, stable, existing OS like XP on your new computer, you don't have it UNLESS you become one of those 10% who know how to get around it.