I'll put it like this....Think of Windows XP as Windows 98, Windows Vista as Windows ME, and Windows XP as Windows 7.

98 was good, real good, but when ME came along it sucked so much and was so bugged barely anyone liked it....But then came XP. At the time the requirements were a little high for some people to use at full speed, but it would be the top (Windows) OS for the next 5 years.