my POVs..
i see no point in upgrading/getting vista unless you at least get home premium as the base line - you're mainly paying for the features (note: Aeroglass) here to be worth it.. exception is unless you have a crappy old celeron with cheap graphics card on it..
who damn... those screen shots look awesome!!
If you plan on getting a cheap version of vista, get the windows XP cd now! i know that retailers here in Aus are selling them with the upgrade guarantee thing which means you buy a windows XP Home/MCE/Pro/upgrade (excluding academic versions) and get the corresponding version of Vista (Home B/home Prem/Business) and only pay for shipping and handling fees ($47AUD odd bucks i think.. can't remember..).. so in other words its basically free lol.. i don't know about how other countries are handling it..
Re. software compatibility.. just wait a few weeks before/after release and most vendors who's software are worth the money should have a patch ready for Vista.. like how it was done in the past, since vista's core is totally different from XP's..
probably won't be able to get vista until i purchase my new laptop probably well into the next year..