Been using Vista Ultimate myself (11 systems) since it was in Beta, never a problem. Been using Vista Home Premium (over 350 builds) on my builds no problems.
Building a system with Vista is no problem. It's
living with a Vista system that's an needlessly annoying hassle.
Vista is destined to be the Windows ME of the 21st century. Webserver trends say 65% or 70% of users are using XP, with 15% or 20% using Vista. The Steam hardware survey puts the split at XP: 60% vs. Vista 26%, and that's as of March 31. These are real-world usage trends, and not sales data.
If you have access to an XP disc, stick with it. It will continue to get necessary security patches for some time. Windows 7 is going to push the remnants of Vista out of the marketplace, starting at the end of this year.
-Llama