Here are 25 shortcomings found by Frank J. Ohlhorst when he reviewed the yet to be formally released Microsoft Vista OS. I have added my views which are enclosed in parentesis, alongside the Vista shortcomings.

* Vista introduces a new variant of the SMB protocol - (I wonder what is the future of Samba now...)
* Need significant hardware upgrades
* No anti-virus bundled with Vista
* Many third party applications still not supported
* Your machine better have a truck load of Memory - somewhere around 2 GB. (Linux works flawlessly with just 128 MB... even less).
* Too many Vista editions.
* Need product activation. (Now that is something you will never see in Linux).
* Vista OS will take over 10 GB of hard disk space. (With Linux you have a lot of flexibility with respect to the size of the distribution.).
* Backing up the desktop will take up a lot of space. (Not so in Linux)
* No must have reasons to buy Vista. (The fact that Linux is Free is reason enough to opt for it)
* Is significantly different from Windows XP and so there is a learning curve. (Switching to Linux also involves some learning curve but then it is worth it as it doesn't cost you much and in the long run, you have a lot to gain).
* You'd better come to terms with the cost of Vista - it is really exorbitant running to over $300. (In price, Vista can't beat Linux which is free as in beer and Freedom).
* Hardware vendors are taking their own time to provide support for Vista.(Now a days, more and more hardware vendors are providing support for Linux).
* Vista's backup application is more limited than Windows XP's. (Linux has a rich set of backup options and every one of them is free).
* No VoIP or other communication applications built in. (Skype, Ekiga... the list goes on in Linux).
* Lacks intelligence and forces users to approve the use of many native applications, such as a task scheduler or disk defragmenter. (Linux is flexible to a fault).
* Buried controls - requiring a half a dozen mouse clicks. (Some window managers in Linux also have this problem but then here too, you have a variety of choice to suit your tastes).
* Installation can take hours, upgrades even more. (Barring upgrades, installation of Linux will take atmost 45 minutes. Upgrades will take a little longer).
* Little information support for Hybrid hard drives.
* 50 Million lines of code - equates to countless undiscovered bugs. (True, true... It is high time you switch to Linux).
* New volume-licensing technology limits installations or requires dedicated key-management servers to keep systems activated. (Linux users do not have this headache I believe).
* Promises have remained just that - mere promises. A case to the point being WinFS, Virtual folders and so on. - (Clever marketing my friend, to keep you interested in their product).
* Does not have support for IPX, Gopher, WebDAV, NetDDE and AppleTalk. (Linux has better support for many protocols which Windows do not support).
* Wordpad's ability to open .doc files have been removed. (Now that is what I call extinguishing with style. OpenOffice.org which is bundled with most Linux distributions can open, read and write DOC files).