> Peripheral makers not updating drivers, though they had an unusually long period of time to do so.

Not so, according to Dell:

http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E18002573FE006B7...

They might have had a lot of time, but looks like the goal posts moved very late in the game.

> OEMs mislabeling laptops as Vista ready/capable/whatever when they clearly aren't.

OEMs don't set the standards, Microsoft lowered them.

See: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080305-the-vista-capa...

> Micromanage Vista Ready certifications

RTFA, Microsoft dumped "Vista Ready" and replaced it with "Vista Capable", which will just "run these core experiences at a minimum."

See: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyor...