Of course I know it will be broken quickly and whatnot... in fact, it already has been, but that's not a valid thing to consider when actually discussing a product as shipped. Just because other people will eventually fix it, doesn't remove the fact that it's a bad idea/product on it's own. And yes, people will ignore the "No VM" clause too, but once you break the contract, violate the DMCA, and hack around all the bad stuff, are we still discussing the same "Vista" that consumers paid money for?
I have an mp3 player that's nearly 6 years old, from the days before iPods. It was a pretty horribly designed product, with an abysmal UI, poor battery life, and "only" 20GB storage. So why did I buy it, and why am I still using it? Three things, first I replaced the harddrive with a 60GB one, and secondly, I replaced the batteries with 2000mah ones, and
http://www.rockbox.org/ lives up to it's name. Between the two, I've taken a rather mediocre product, and loved using it for years. By replacing all the software (and the main parts of the hardware) it finally doesn't suck. The only reason I bought the hardware itself is simply that it's the one piece you can't download or create yourself. Vista, on the other hand, is nothing BUT software. There's nothing that stops you from running a purely free OS on your PC, and instantly "fixing" all the problems with Vista. But to actually judge Vista, we have to ignore the fact that Linux, Mac, or lots of other software/hacks/etc exist, and just review what MS is providing in the box, not what a bunch of additional software/fixes/hacks/contract-violations will let it be. Sorry if that ran a bit long, or if it comes across as snapping at you... not intentional.
As for the government... it's not MS that's trying to put DRM into your computer. MS wants a piece of the media pie. They've been trying for years with things like WebTV, data subchannels in broadcast TV, Windows "Media Center," the Zune, X-Box etc. They've got a one-trick pony with their OS, and they're trying desperately to leverage that into a big stake in content/media distribution. But in order to play the game, they have to keep hollywood and the music industry happy, and the MAFIAA insist on DRM in everything, so MS gives it to them. It's not MS lobbying the government to let them keep/put DRM in everything, it's the MAFIAA insisting on it to MS, in order to make any deals with the industry. The only DRM microsoft wants is windows genuine advantage. As long as you pay for Vista and Office, they couldn't care less what else you pirate. Sure, consumers don't want DRM, but they don't have a say. Who actually BUYS a copy of windows anyway? It either comes pre-installed on your computer if you're an end user, or you're a large business, and in that case, you don't get affected by the DRM anyway (since you're running servers, not watching movies), so what do you care?
I know I said it before, but "DRM, DIAF!"