A majority of computer users enjoy flashy screens, pretty buttons and "stupid mode" interfaces. For those who don't like that, they can change it to an older theme. It's Windows... I'm sure that it's supported. The XP theme takes up more resources than the classic theme does. It takes 15 seconds to switch between the two. I doubt it will be much different on Vista. I don't see what you're bitching about.
I'm not in the majority. I doubt those older themes send the stuff to the GPU as opposed to the CPU. However, I probably won't be using Vista for a long time (even if I do pirate it) so I could care less.
You know..you're wrong.
It DOES offload it to the GPU, and the lag is not from CPU stress..it's from low FPS while rendering the desktop. PLEASE before making such a stupid assertion look up your facts. Not to mention you can
turn it off, here to please you more you have a choice between the Vista Basic UI (GDI+ rendered) and the Classic UI (Also GDI+ rendered).
Jesus christ..
Let's taken into thought the complex calculations done for every window in 3D space? How about the live renders of Windows while you simultaeneously scroll through them using Flip3D? Hell, even the shadows are complex. They are probably done per pixel and the glass transparency channel being recalculated whenever a window is moved? How about the dynamic resizing of a glass window while playing a video and recalculating coordinates for new shadows? If you would have ALL OF THAT on the CPU, you'd start to see smoke protrude from your PC.
.....my god.