As of July 2006, Microsoft has embarked on a path to improve the security of its software, combat software piracy, and improve the OS interface to compete with Apple's OS X.
Since its release, Windows Vista no longer comes wth volume license keys to businesses to assist with activating an unlimited number of copies of Windows Vista on PCs. This is seen by Microsoft as a first step in controlling the piracy issue.
The interface has improved somewhat, although at the expense of performance. A recent SP update (November 2007) has gone to some lengths to address the performance issues and remove bugs in the interface and in the way certain programs are run.
And Microsoft intends to add a wealth of useful tools to the latest OS in 2008 to make Windows Vista look like a worthwhile investment.
In the meantime, most PC users are happy to stick to Windows XP.
NOTE: Microsoft will be unveiling several critical patches to make Windows XP run on computers without a hard drive.
