Rewrite or not, many of the features that made WinV a unique and new operating system have been stripped from the operating system to meet a deadline rather than developmental excellence or a uniqueness worthy of purchase. The big one, of course, is the lack of WinFS which was set to significantly accelerate file access and management in a quick, open-source language.

Consider its new features:
-Desktop widgets
-IE7
-Aero
-WMP11
-Windows Mail, Calendar
-A centralized control panel
-Prefetching often-used programs to memory
-Updated task manager
-Support for NVFlash drives
-A replacement for netmeeting

And some trusted computing nonsense, including locking down the kernel from security vendors; while an admirable goal to keep the kernel away from everyone, not letting security vendors have access to it will only leave the black hats the luxury of doing as they please... And they will. More than that, the HDCP requirement of Vista is a slap in the face to anyone buying video cards or monitors today, as is BitLocker, the valiant effort to permit people to encrypt their files.... Only if they buy the $299 or $399 editions.

These are touted as the major features of Windows Vista, as seen on the Microsoft pages regarding their new baby. Look at each of those, and honestly tell me they couldn't be distributed in another 125-175mb service pack. All of their features, as listed there, could be provided via simple software packages, new services or new drivers. Many of the features in Windows Vista can already be done with Windows XP, for less memory than Vista demands.

From widgets, to new mail and conferencing clients to new devices, Aero and WMP11... All of it can be done, right now, on Windows XP.

Is Windows Vista still anything more than Service Pack 3 which took an exceptionally long time to develop at the expense of all its really innovative features? I'm not so sure.