My 4-year-old computer with Windows XP got sluggish and crashed a lot, so I bought a new one as soon as Vista came out. I got plenty of RAM and processor speed, and 1.5 Terabytes of storage. I've had the computer for a year now, with no problems. I got Office 2007 at the same time, and I will admit that some processes seem to take more keystrokes or mouse clicks (but many common tasks are much easier, like adjusting margins).
Vista works just fine, if you have a computer that can handle it and half an ounce of adaptability. Some older programs won't work on Vista (or perhaps their manufacturers are too cheap to make them work on Vista). Most work just fine - if you have to patience to figure out how to make them run.
Oh, and the DOS version of the Digital Tradition works just great on Windows Vista, so what else do I need?

-Joe-