You don't hate vista because you're not trying to muck about with the settings and the registry. I haven't had any problems either.
I have a friend who got all pissy about vista because "it is my right to adjust any part of the registry I want".
If you want that much control over your OS just get to work on Linux. He's just too lazy, lol.
I like what I've seen with Win 7, especially since it's got a lot of nice diagnostic tools to make my job as Tech Support EVEN EASIER.