Bill Gates wants the pc to be in a box by the tv!
You do know Bill Gates retired for the most part don't you?
Vista is what XP was to Win2K when it was released. Sure it uses more resources. If you've got a modern computer it's not very noticable imo.
DX11 using the GPU for more than just graphics sounds very interesting, could affect how servers are made potentially... (Basically a Windows based version of CUDA it sounds like).
It's always ammusing to see people freak out over each move by Microsoft however.
On one side you have people screaping about DX10 not being available to XP users, and then others saying they don't want it anyways, because DX9 is good enough.
I generally skip one generation of windows before upgrading (eg Win95-Win2k-Vista)
Vista64 is more stable than Win2k was for me, and Win2k was more stable than 95. My computer, over all, does the actions I would expect it to do in it's current time faster than it did for expected actions during those OS's period. I'm happy.
For people crying about loss of resources, etc. Get over it. Resoureces will always be used more by newer OS's for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. This is because the OS manufacturer determines than more resources are available to the consumers buying their OS than were previously. This is a reasonable determination. If you don't like that, then go Linux, just don't complain about the loss of games compatability. Windows is and has been an OS built for the majority of the market. It is meant to appeal to the largest ammount of consumers possible. Doing this will inevitably use more resources.
Stop whining.