They've been working on a lot more than that. It's a huge undertaking, and
while there is much they need to work, didn't include, failed to get to,
and won't be finishing, there is plenty for you to explore that's worthwhile
and has nothing to do with skins or the UI.
Before you dismiss Vista as "skins" (do you have it confused with Paris
Hilton) if I were you I'd explore the features using
www.pro-networks.org or
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/default.mspx or some of the
hundreds of private Vista sites like
www.longhornblogs.net
If you think Mac Tiger looks great, and a lot of people do, you should thank
MSFT for making IE 4 from which Steve Jobs freely stole.
When Dean Hachamovitch who runs IE bumped into Steve Jobs in an LA
restaurant with Rob Scooble
http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/08/19.html#a10906
and Jobs was quick to invoke that MSFT stole from him, (they both stole from
Xerox Park) Hachamovitch refrained from pointing out how much Jobs stole
from IE4.0
Also since you're on a dual boot, you will probably find it convenient to
access your XP desktop from your Vista desktop by making a shortcut at
C:\Documents and Settings\No Name's Profile\Desktop and then you can access
your XP files without having to move or copy them and save time and space on
your hard drive.
CH