I thought both of these articles were on point and provide good feedback, (esp. the 10 items listed in article #1).  

Article #1 - What went wrong with Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/what_went_wrong_with_windows_vista.html

Article #2 - Defending Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/defending_windows_vista.html

QUOTE: This is a post I never imagined writing. But with so many year-end reviewers panning Vista, somebody other than Microsoft must make the defense. Vista is so important an operating system that I'm writing not one, but two year-end reviews.

Vista hasn't done so well in other year-end reviews. Last week, my former JupiterResearch colleague Michael Gartenberg observed that "Vista's been really getting slapped around lately." Oh, is that an understatement.

As example, Gartenberg linked to a rather ridiculous CNET Crave ranking that put Vista on a list of "top ten terrible tech products. I referenced the same listing late last month. It's lame to put Vista on a list with stinkers like the late-1990's Apple puck mouse or Sinclair C5.

Vista isn't a bad operating system, it's just not remarkably better than Windows XP. Maybe if more bloggers and reviewers had kept those free laptops, they would now have enough experience using Vista to see its benefits.