...or just refuse to buy Vista.
The way I see it, the more people refuse to "upgrade" to Vista, the more MS is going to hurt. Eventually, the lost profits will get to the point that MS will remove it precisely because it is severely hurting their business.
In other words, MS will just have to say too damn bad to RIAA, MPAA, and all the other greedy, sue-happy "entertainment" groups out there.
Money does talk, and it has a loud voice, particularly when it comes from your customers.
Won't work.
As of this past Jan 30, all BestBuy, Staples, etc. outlets have NOTHING BUT VISTA for sale on new computers. XP retail CDs are going like hotcakes because folks like us know XP is doomed within another month or two.
Face it, Vista is the future of PC computing. Microsoft is not going to be hurting at all.
I've got a Linux (FC4) box, and a Mac Mini (Tiger), and a Windows XP-Pro box. (Vista might run on the XP box, but I'm not going to find out.) Linux is my platform of choice.
So what. Look, we're in the vast minority. Within one year, Vista will have taken over 40% of PCs, and within two years, nothing but Vista will run the latest software being sold, and it'll be on 75% of PCs.
I hate to say that, but it's gonna happen. Prepare your alternatives now, if it's not already too late.