I swear, when Microsoft first started working on Vista, they went in and told their developers to copy all of the features of OSX, yet make it a little different.

Yet another person who should probably do some research before *ahem* making an ass out of himself.
Instant search, (gadgets/widgets), and about a dozen other features were all announced by Microsoft as being slated for inclusion into Vista long before they were released on OS X. Apple saw what Microsoft planned to do, and simply got it done faster.

Originally Posted by Shadow X iPod cant work with it, neither can Microsoft's own Zune. Thats bad when you cant even program your OS to work with your own mp3 player.

Again, do your research. The Zune works fine in Vista, everyone kicked up a stink when it came out and it didn't have software for an unreleased OS yet, but the compatible version of the software came out months ago.

Originally Posted by Impluo I don't see how a search box on the start menu makes it one of those must have features (I don't use the search, I remember where I keep my files)

It's not so much about remembering where you put your files. It's more like how if you have so many programs installed (as I once did) that the XP start menu All Programs option covers the left half of the screen, you can type the first few letters of the program you need and it appears instantly. Below that you get links to received emails that include that text. And text files and office documents. And any other readable file that it has indexed.