Vista is a superb operating system, I’ve been running it for well over 18 months now with not a single glitch or crash.
I’m running the 64bit Ultra version with some pretty complicated hardware that used to make XP unstable.
XP can only handle 3gb or RAM in correct sequencing, any more is lost to the OS and can induce instability. XP64 was a Dog.
Vista Home premium in either 64bit or 32bit is available as an OEM from ebuyer for £85
Ebuyer Vista 32
Ebuyer Vista 64
Also, you can’t buy Home Premium on an education license only Business, which doesn’t have the Media Centre applications.
Also available from Amazon for the same price:
Amazon Vista 32