Microsoft

Agree with you here. Vista has cute graphics, but the interface as a whole just gets in the way of your work. I am a graphic/web designer and I like monochrome themes like OS X with/without UNO or Windows Classic theme. It lets me better perceive colors and the designs I do. It is also easier on the eyes. In Vista, you get the strong black + white canvas combo which simply...

text emails into a proprietry format that only Microsoft email clients can read. ...

Was it written by Jef Raskin, by any chance? It sounds like the sort of thing he was often saying.

rethink of the way we design GUIs, and in the context of the article neither Apple nor Microsoft have made one iota of progress in the last 5 years. ...

Sorry, nope Mac Messenger Microsoft Messenger For Mac

Well, not so much with DHCP but with the DNS servers supplied by the DHCP server being read on the Macs running Mac OS 9 or less. I've usually had to include the DNS servers manually, but that could have been to a poorly configured DHCP (one not including DNS servers). I haven't had that problem with OS X. But like I said, I could be wrong. ;)

And I work in a Microsoft shop. ...

A guided tour of Vista (click on SEE IT NOW).

Yes. When I orignally posted I was referring to the dialogue box one sees after scrolling to 'OPEN' in an application (in this case Microsoft Word). These application dialogue boxes always seems to open too small. I would like them to open bigger, so I need to scroll less often. However, I find the same problem with the Finder window. It nearly always opens too small. ...

save dialogue of Microsoft Word, right? ...