I deal with both operating systems at work (and at home, I run a triple-boot system, with one drive running Windows XP x64, one running Windows Vista and the third running SuSE Linux). My personal opinion is that Vista is still not-quite ready for prime-time but it's soon going to be the only option out there for new purchasers. There are still issues that I run into with the OS from time to time, running 50-50 between hardware problems that require Microsoft hotfixes to correct and software issues that require patches from the software company to repair functionality. I don't run Vista full-time at the moment, and don't plan to until after I'm able to test out SP1 if/when it's finally released.

Vista is nice eye candy, but there's still some functionality that's nowhere close to what it works like under XP. And you will have to get used to the fact that you can't install programs the way you used to with XP, plus the madness of the User Access Control... *chuckle*