Yet another reason why private healthcare must be stopped. Curing people doesn't come into it - it's about keeping them sick enough to stay profitable.
Did you really get modded Insightful for that?
How thick do you have to be to think that: a) you should receive "long-term benefits" for being depressed, yet find the strength to go out to the beach and to parties (why can't you find the strength to go to work - the rest of us are depressed and go...) b) that a government-run system would not do the same.
Listen, public healthcare could not, even theoretically, be run any more than about 15% more efficiently than private (profit margins minus administrative costs). If it would be run the way you envision it (everyone gets everything for every possible and impossible reason), the entire country would be utterly bankrupt in a decade. Instead what you will have is a MORE intrusive system, because as a customer you'd have no recourse against its failures.
I think you may be too busy trying to "win". Perhaps you should use that thing your tongue is attached to (your head) more often instead.
"...I can envision that in the relatively near future we would be able to embed sufficient angiogenesis-mediating factors into the ex-vivo grown tissues that under the right conditions they would generate a sufficient blood supply of their own in-situ. "
Many a SciFi story I've read has used this kind of thing for wounds. I wonder how soon until they have it to the point where these slices are vacuum packed and you can open it and stuff it into a wound in the field?
A little while.
There are two main approaches to using non-autologous grafting approaches. One is the matrix approach, where the material grafted is not tissue per se, but rather an organic matrix that is suitable for colonization by the autologous tissues and provides an environment conducive to growth. Such matrices are already being used in fields of orthopedic surgery and surgical dentistry to cause bone growth.
The second approach, which appears to be this company's goal, is to create graftable tissues in-vitro. Please note that this isn't really a new idea, since ex-vivo grown "skin" has been available for at least a couple of years now. While the method described in TFA is potentially both more effective and has a wider range of use, it seems to me that it would likely require careful surgical grafting in order to supply the graft with blood vessels, so it's unlikely that we'd be able to just stuff it into the wound right away.
However, given how quickly our knowledge of the mechanisms of angiogenesis (blood vessel growth and proliferation) has expanded in the last decade due to the research into tumor progression, I can envision that in the relatively near future we would be able to embed sufficient angiogenesis-mediating factors into the ex-vivo grown tissues that under.
The problem is that no human can develop an immune response to either H1 or N1 (as that would be deadly).
Um, what?
If a virus were to infect a cell, and the mexican flu would infect the same cell, there is some chance that the mantle of flu would be copied around the much more dangerous virus, which would beat any immunity or vaccine we currently have, would react differently to most treatments and be capable of spreading through open air (through coughing).
If such an event were to take place, that event has a good chance of making the 1917 flu pandemic look like a tiny issue. That disease literally blocked the world economy for over 2 months, making millions of victims.
The problem is not the flu in the H1N1 form. The problem is that pneumonia might "be infected" and transform into an H1N1 virus. The problem is, in essence, the evolution that it might cause in other viruses. Cases of gene transfer between viruses are well-studied, and the current consensus is that it's commonplace.
No, actually the PROBLEM is that such drivel got marked "Informative" on slashdot...
Seriously?
I have to say that after college, medical school, graduate school, and over 12 years of virology and immunology research, I've read a lot of stuff (including popular science that was meant to be educational) that was ridiculous. But the above post ranks in my top 5 examples of manic garbage. It's a collection of bits and pieces of something you've overheard, put together somewhat like a neanderthal would try to piece together the space shuttle. It may contain a couple of the correct parts, but the result does not only fail to take off, but is not identifiable as the correct object, no matter from what angle you look at it.
Education is a marketable commodity. Give me one good reason why private educational institutions should charge less for it. Other than "out of the goodness of their hearts" I don't think you can. This is the same entitlement-bound "thinking" that manifests itself as the "why does profession X make so much money... they should really make less... how hard could it be...", etc...
No one owes you an education. The government WILL provide you with 12 years of education... and if you cannot afford private universities, there are public colleges that are substantially cheaper. Or you could, you know, study and get a scholarship. If you're a B+ student or higher, you'll be able to get a scholarship somewhere, at least a partial one.
So please stop whining. Yes education is expensive (trust me, I know). But on average, it drastically increases lifetime earnings... so look at it as an investment. Do it, or don't do it... but please stop thinking that someone owes it to you.
I read quite a lot beyond that site. I did not, however, have time to link everything I've ever read about that vaccine in my post (having worked for one of the virologists consulting for the project) at the time the vaccine was going through trials and getting FDA approval.
The live attenuated flu vaccine, FluMist is substantially more effective than the inactivated injected vaccine (something that's blindingly obvious to those of us who've studied basic immunology). It provides a potent T-cell response, and a large pool of memory cells. Furthermore, it has been shown to be effective against viruses that have undergone some genetic drift.
For anyone who is old enough, has no respiratory problems, and who isn't immunosuppressed, the live nasal spray vaccine is a much more sensible choice.
On behalf of the zombie coaltion, I'm going to ask you to discontinue your suggestions that transmit power of your microwave devices be turned down. Currently, the power emitted is sufficient to get your brains to just the right consistency and temperature to provide a perfect snack. That will not be the case with lower-power devices, and I, for instance, simply don't think that anyone can appreciate a cold brain.
While it seems like a rather silly policy, why on earth would people be taking their laptops into the movie theater? Are there that many occasions when people don't go home prior to going to a movie?
It's pretty fucking ironic that you're making that argument - and being modded insightful! - on a website that was primarily started and is now largely populated by rabid advocates of open source software, specifically an OS that was originally built to scratch an itch, the primary mover behind it being a guy who presumably could have made a lot more money with it than he has...
That's honestly one of the stupidest interpretations of what happened that I've ever heard.
Doesn't Linux prove that it actually works the other way around?
No, actually Linux proves that when lots of people who already live well by other means decide to dedicate their free time to a common goal, they can accomplish something big.
Why is it that nearly every Slashdot thread that mentions private enterprise, becomes populated with these holier-than-thou replies.
"Why shouldn't he/she/it just give away X?" is the question that drives me up the wall.
Let me answer it.
"For the mortgage".
Somehow, a large number of well-fed, well-clothed, and easily-surviving members of Slashdot have gotten into their heads that they (or some proxy of themselves, such as the NASA in this instance) are entitled to the fruits of other people's labors, simply because they exist. "Why doesn't he just give it away!" "Why should doctors make money, aren't they in it to help people?" "Patents and copyright should be abolished". etc... etc... etc...
To be honest, I find that attitude to be far more selfish than any kind of profiteering. It's a product of a life lived with few real difficulties, without denying themselves anything substantial... a live full of luxuries and entitlements.
This is the same kind of math used by proponents of President Obama's healthcare socialization package. If you will, it's also the same math used to justify the Soviet command economy.
On paper, eliminating profits saves money for the hypothetical society. In reality, however, eliminating profit also eliminates self-interest, which very effectively stagnates or degrades the enterprise... be it at the level of a single supermarket, or the economy of the wealthiest country on Earth.
The reason why this doesn't work, is because you need several things to get something accomplished. You need the WILL to start it... the RESPONSIBILITY to see it through, and the MEANS to get it done. Socialism helps with the means... but not the will. Capitalism helps with the will, by accepting man as the egotistical bastard he is, and appealing to the basest of desires: greed.
But nothing helps with responsibility. For as long as clerks with 1-inch fingernails will 1-finger-type endless requisition forms to get anything done in large organizations (which includes companies as well as governments) with zero interest or concern for what they are doing, waste will reign supreme. At least in private enterprise, this is somewhat moderated by the need for more profit. A government bureaucracy, on the other hand, is like entropy. It spontaneously expands, and this can only be reversed locally, at an even greater cost to the entire system.
no they don't. I was transfering flights at London Heathrow and there was only one window open, and a massive queue. I get to the front and I find the woman at the computer used one finger typing... ONE FINGER, not even one on each hand, one feking finger. This was someone who was supposedly trained to do this job, can't even touch type.
I don't know about London, but in the U.S., the 1-2 finger typing is usually accomplished by a community college dropout, whose fingernail extensions are about 2 inches long, and who types either by carefully and slowly pressing one key at a time with the nail extension, or with the second knuckle of her middle finger. She will also scream: "Can I help you" with enough contempt to burn your eyebrows off. When you get to the counter, she will look you over with as much spite as humanly possible, then get her Sidekick out and text someone for a couple of minutes. And god help you if you are still with her (inevitably) when 12pm or 1pm comes about. She will get up and leave for lunch (or unroll her food), whether you're waiting or not. Actually, she'd prefer you to wait there.
She is a ubiquitous inhabitant of government offices of all sorts, as well as front desks in companies that don't respect themselves. She will need the supervisor/manager to resolve any issue that goes beyond typing your name (incorrectly), but she will march on city hall with the rest of her co-workers if they don't get another 5% raise in the middle of the recession.
Except you picked a number of developments, some of which were chance discoveries (aspirin, penicillin), some of which are not what you think they are (pap smear), and some of which don't apply because of socialized medicine time-frames and weren't even medical discoveries to begin with (x-ray).
Instead, you can look at the number of biomedical research papers coming out on a yearly basis from the USA versus the rest of the world... and at how many new drugs are developed in the USA versus the rest of the world... and at how much money is being spent on basic and clinical biomedical research in the USA versus the rest of the world (even despite the shamefully low percentage of GDP that NIH financing occupies). You can look at the number of post-doctoral positions in biomedical research in the USA versus the rest of the world... etc...
But you did none of those things. You had an opinion, and then selected some random examples that don't even support it properly, and used them to come up with a conclusion that pleased you. Anyone with an IQ above that of a cucumber can do that.
Furthermore, those "wonderful profits" that you seem to hate so much, are doing a wonderful job, getting $100-million efficacy and safety studies necessary for FDA approval... equipping at least as many labs for applied research as the government seems fit to fund for basic research... and keeping a much larger pool of scientists employed.
I just think that a disease affects the middle-class liberal left in this country... and that disease is jealousy and ignorance. Anything that brings profit is seen as underhanded and negative... when in fact that's the only predictable drive that people have, which can then be harnessed to drive them forward. You condemn self-interest, and then proceed to demand a number of things you claim to be entitled to... which is the very definition of self-interest. That's hypocrisy and double-think of the highest order... and the reason why our society is going down the drain.
[1] Not a lot of domestic tranquility follows when any idiot can brandish any powerful weapon he wants (thus, the liberty-crushing principles that grenades, fuel-air bombs, land mines, tanks, missiles, nukes, and certain high-output firearms should probably not be floating around the general public).
So in your eyes, "certain high output firearms (which inevitably means ALL firearms)" are equivalent to weapons of mass destruction. Have you every considered therapy?
[2] I don't know about you, but most people's general Welfare pretty strongly hinges on having health care without worrying about becoming an indentured servant by taking it (thus, the socialist bogeyman of universal health care enjoyed by every other developed nation in the world (and some pretty undeveloped ones too)).
So is that why they come to the U.S. to get their surgeries done, if they can afford it? Listen, our unbridled profits lead to the lion's share of world's medical advances... and it's not unrealistic to suppose that much of the capability of other countries to provide care for cheap hedges on the fact that one country is taking it for the team, by actually developing the things. Secondly, have you ever asked your mom: "But Bobby's mom let him do X, why can't I?" and gotten "I am not Bobby's mom" in response? Well, it's kind of like that. Not everything works everywhere.
But assuming you're right, and everything is applicable everywhere (tell that to the Russians and Iraqis) shouldn't you be telling the Swiss that the fact that they keep their M-16s (read: high-output firearms) at home after their military service is negatively affecting their domestic tranquility, low crime-rate and all?
MTA is not a transit company. It's a gathering of extortionists and mobsters. The people cleaning the platforms make nearly 50% more than post-docs at NY research institutions... and the MTA employees are going to be getting something like 4% per year raises for the next 3 years... EVERY YEAR... at a time when mean salaries are plumetting, and the MTA is about to raise the fares twice in one calendar year. Fuck 'em.
Haven't run into any problems w. Vista64. All of my 32-bit Steam-delivered games run just fine, as well as a small variety of other software. What doesn't work for you?
I prefer stability, and usability to an extra 5% FPS. My previous XP installation would crash 3-4 times per month with heavy gaming. I don't play that much, but my Vista install has yet to crash since last November... a feat even my Ubuntu installation has not matched.
Also, I find that XP will slow down drastically over time, even with no additional services installed, and while it's lightning fast post-install, it'll slow down considerably over 3-6 months. Vista doesn't do that.
Slashdot Mirror
Yet another reason why private healthcare must be stopped. Curing people doesn't come into it - it's about keeping them sick enough to stay profitable.
Did you really get modded Insightful for that?
How thick do you have to be to think that:
a) you should receive "long-term benefits" for being depressed, yet find the strength to go out to the beach and to parties (why can't you find the strength to go to work - the rest of us are depressed and go...)
b) that a government-run system would not do the same.
Listen, public healthcare could not, even theoretically, be run any more than about 15% more efficiently than private (profit margins minus administrative costs). If it would be run the way you envision it (everyone gets everything for every possible and impossible reason), the entire country would be utterly bankrupt in a decade. Instead what you will have is a MORE intrusive system, because as a customer you'd have no recourse against its failures.
I think you may be too busy trying to "win". Perhaps you should use that thing your tongue is attached to (your head) more often instead.
Actually I think the people of Great Britain need new governance that doesn't think that Aldous Huxley had the right idea.
Correction: last sentence should read:
" ...I can envision that in the relatively near future we would be able to embed sufficient angiogenesis-mediating factors into the ex-vivo grown tissues that under the right conditions they would generate a sufficient blood supply of their own in-situ. "
Many a SciFi story I've read has used this kind of thing for wounds. I wonder how soon until they have it to the point where these slices are vacuum packed and you can open it and stuff it into a wound in the field?
A little while.
There are two main approaches to using non-autologous grafting approaches. One is the matrix approach, where the material grafted is not tissue per se, but rather an organic matrix that is suitable for colonization by the autologous tissues and provides an environment conducive to growth. Such matrices are already being used in fields of orthopedic surgery and surgical dentistry to cause bone growth.
The second approach, which appears to be this company's goal, is to create graftable tissues in-vitro. Please note that this isn't really a new idea, since ex-vivo grown "skin" has been available for at least a couple of years now. While the method described in TFA is potentially both more effective and has a wider range of use, it seems to me that it would likely require careful surgical grafting in order to supply the graft with blood vessels, so it's unlikely that we'd be able to just stuff it into the wound right away.
However, given how quickly our knowledge of the mechanisms of angiogenesis (blood vessel growth and proliferation) has expanded in the last decade due to the research into tumor progression, I can envision that in the relatively near future we would be able to embed sufficient angiogenesis-mediating factors into the ex-vivo grown tissues that under.
In order to provide the most choice, freedom, and protection for consumers, use of Keychest will become mandatory.
The problem is that no human can develop an immune response to either H1 or N1 (as that would be deadly).
Um, what?
If a virus were to infect a cell, and the mexican flu would infect the same cell, there is some chance that the mantle of flu would be copied around the much more dangerous virus, which would beat any immunity or vaccine we currently have, would react differently to most treatments and be capable of spreading through open air (through coughing).
If such an event were to take place, that event has a good chance of making the 1917 flu pandemic look like a tiny issue. That disease literally blocked the world economy for over 2 months, making millions of victims.
The problem is not the flu in the H1N1 form. The problem is that pneumonia might "be infected" and transform into an H1N1 virus. The problem is, in essence, the evolution that it might cause in other viruses. Cases of gene transfer between viruses are well-studied, and the current consensus is that it's commonplace.
No, actually the PROBLEM is that such drivel got marked "Informative" on slashdot...
Seriously?
I have to say that after college, medical school, graduate school, and over 12 years of virology and immunology research, I've read a lot of stuff (including popular science that was meant to be educational) that was ridiculous. But the above post ranks in my top 5 examples of manic garbage. It's a collection of bits and pieces of something you've overheard, put together somewhat like a neanderthal would try to piece together the space shuttle. It may contain a couple of the correct parts, but the result does not only fail to take off, but is not identifiable as the correct object, no matter from what angle you look at it.
Went to NYU Tisch, didn't you?
I kid, I kid.
Education is a marketable commodity. Give me one good reason why private educational institutions should charge less for it. Other than "out of the goodness of their hearts" I don't think you can. This is the same entitlement-bound "thinking" that manifests itself as the "why does profession X make so much money... they should really make less... how hard could it be...", etc...
No one owes you an education. The government WILL provide you with 12 years of education... and if you cannot afford private universities, there are public colleges that are substantially cheaper. Or you could, you know, study and get a scholarship. If you're a B+ student or higher, you'll be able to get a scholarship somewhere, at least a partial one.
So please stop whining. Yes education is expensive (trust me, I know). But on average, it drastically increases lifetime earnings... so look at it as an investment. Do it, or don't do it... but please stop thinking that someone owes it to you.
I read quite a lot beyond that site. I did not, however, have time to link everything I've ever read about that vaccine in my post (having worked for one of the virologists consulting for the project) at the time the vaccine was going through trials and getting FDA approval.
The live attenuated flu vaccine, FluMist is substantially more effective than the inactivated injected vaccine (something that's blindingly obvious to those of us who've studied basic immunology). It provides a potent T-cell response, and a large pool of memory cells. Furthermore, it has been shown to be effective against viruses that have undergone some genetic drift.
For anyone who is old enough, has no respiratory problems, and who isn't immunosuppressed, the live nasal spray vaccine is a much more sensible choice.
For additional data refer here: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/acip/efficacycomparison.htm
On behalf of the zombie coaltion, I'm going to ask you to discontinue your suggestions that transmit power of your microwave devices be turned down. Currently, the power emitted is sufficient to get your brains to just the right consistency and temperature to provide a perfect snack. That will not be the case with lower-power devices, and I, for instance, simply don't think that anyone can appreciate a cold brain.
Good for you.
I am lucky to be able to leave work at 7pm... and it's an hour trip for me to get home from work, and then an hour back to the city to go out.
While it seems like a rather silly policy, why on earth would people be taking their laptops into the movie theater? Are there that many occasions when people don't go home prior to going to a movie?
You don't have a job, do you?
The problem is that in the case of healthcare, money shouldn't be the goal of the enterprise... ...
I wish my healthcare was more like my car insurance...
Do you actually read the drivel you post for self-consistency?
It's pretty fucking ironic that you're making that argument - and being modded insightful! - on a website that was primarily started and is now largely populated by rabid advocates of open source software, specifically an OS that was originally built to scratch an itch, the primary mover behind it being a guy who presumably could have made a lot more money with it than he has...
That's honestly one of the stupidest interpretations of what happened that I've ever heard.
Doesn't Linux prove that it actually works the other way around?
No, actually Linux proves that when lots of people who already live well by other means decide to dedicate their free time to a common goal, they can accomplish something big.
Why is it that nearly every Slashdot thread that mentions private enterprise, becomes populated with these holier-than-thou replies.
"Why shouldn't he/she/it just give away X?" is the question that drives me up the wall.
Let me answer it.
"For the mortgage".
Somehow, a large number of well-fed, well-clothed, and easily-surviving members of Slashdot have gotten into their heads that they (or some proxy of themselves, such as the NASA in this instance) are entitled to the fruits of other people's labors, simply because they exist. "Why doesn't he just give it away!" "Why should doctors make money, aren't they in it to help people?" "Patents and copyright should be abolished". etc... etc... etc...
To be honest, I find that attitude to be far more selfish than any kind of profiteering. It's a product of a life lived with few real difficulties, without denying themselves anything substantial... a live full of luxuries and entitlements.
This is the same kind of math used by proponents of President Obama's healthcare socialization package. If you will, it's also the same math used to justify the Soviet command economy.
On paper, eliminating profits saves money for the hypothetical society. In reality, however, eliminating profit also eliminates self-interest, which very effectively stagnates or degrades the enterprise... be it at the level of a single supermarket, or the economy of the wealthiest country on Earth.
The reason why this doesn't work, is because you need several things to get something accomplished. You need the WILL to start it... the RESPONSIBILITY to see it through, and the MEANS to get it done. Socialism helps with the means... but not the will. Capitalism helps with the will, by accepting man as the egotistical bastard he is, and appealing to the basest of desires: greed.
But nothing helps with responsibility. For as long as clerks with 1-inch fingernails will 1-finger-type endless requisition forms to get anything done in large organizations (which includes companies as well as governments) with zero interest or concern for what they are doing, waste will reign supreme. At least in private enterprise, this is somewhat moderated by the need for more profit. A government bureaucracy, on the other hand, is like entropy. It spontaneously expands, and this can only be reversed locally, at an even greater cost to the entire system.
no they don't. I was transfering flights at London Heathrow and there was only one window open, and a massive queue. I get to the front and I find the woman at the computer used one finger typing... ONE FINGER, not even one on each hand, one feking finger. This was someone who was supposedly trained to do this job, can't even touch type.
I don't know about London, but in the U.S., the 1-2 finger typing is usually accomplished by a community college dropout, whose fingernail extensions are about 2 inches long, and who types either by carefully and slowly pressing one key at a time with the nail extension, or with the second knuckle of her middle finger. She will also scream: "Can I help you" with enough contempt to burn your eyebrows off. When you get to the counter, she will look you over with as much spite as humanly possible, then get her Sidekick out and text someone for a couple of minutes. And god help you if you are still with her (inevitably) when 12pm or 1pm comes about. She will get up and leave for lunch (or unroll her food), whether you're waiting or not. Actually, she'd prefer you to wait there.
She is a ubiquitous inhabitant of government offices of all sorts, as well as front desks in companies that don't respect themselves. She will need the supervisor/manager to resolve any issue that goes beyond typing your name (incorrectly), but she will march on city hall with the rest of her co-workers if they don't get another 5% raise in the middle of the recession.
No, because "non-zero" can be negative too. Although I suppose the end result will be positive regardless...
Except you picked a number of developments, some of which were chance discoveries (aspirin, penicillin), some of which are not what you think they are (pap smear), and some of which don't apply because of socialized medicine time-frames and weren't even medical discoveries to begin with (x-ray).
Instead, you can look at the number of biomedical research papers coming out on a yearly basis from the USA versus the rest of the world... and at how many new drugs are developed in the USA versus the rest of the world... and at how much money is being spent on basic and clinical biomedical research in the USA versus the rest of the world (even despite the shamefully low percentage of GDP that NIH financing occupies). You can look at the number of post-doctoral positions in biomedical research in the USA versus the rest of the world... etc...
But you did none of those things. You had an opinion, and then selected some random examples that don't even support it properly, and used them to come up with a conclusion that pleased you. Anyone with an IQ above that of a cucumber can do that.
Furthermore, those "wonderful profits" that you seem to hate so much, are doing a wonderful job, getting $100-million efficacy and safety studies necessary for FDA approval... equipping at least as many labs for applied research as the government seems fit to fund for basic research... and keeping a much larger pool of scientists employed.
I just think that a disease affects the middle-class liberal left in this country... and that disease is jealousy and ignorance. Anything that brings profit is seen as underhanded and negative... when in fact that's the only predictable drive that people have, which can then be harnessed to drive them forward. You condemn self-interest, and then proceed to demand a number of things you claim to be entitled to... which is the very definition of self-interest. That's hypocrisy and double-think of the highest order... and the reason why our society is going down the drain.
[1] Not a lot of domestic tranquility follows when any idiot can brandish any powerful weapon he wants (thus, the liberty-crushing principles that grenades, fuel-air bombs, land mines, tanks, missiles, nukes, and certain high-output firearms should probably not be floating around the general public).
So in your eyes, "certain high output firearms (which inevitably means ALL firearms)" are equivalent to weapons of mass destruction. Have you every considered therapy?
[2] I don't know about you, but most people's general Welfare pretty strongly hinges on having health care without worrying about becoming an indentured servant by taking it (thus, the socialist bogeyman of universal health care enjoyed by every other developed nation in the world (and some pretty undeveloped ones too)).
So is that why they come to the U.S. to get their surgeries done, if they can afford it? Listen, our unbridled profits lead to the lion's share of world's medical advances... and it's not unrealistic to suppose that much of the capability of other countries to provide care for cheap hedges on the fact that one country is taking it for the team, by actually developing the things. Secondly, have you ever asked your mom: "But Bobby's mom let him do X, why can't I?" and gotten "I am not Bobby's mom" in response? Well, it's kind of like that. Not everything works everywhere.
But assuming you're right, and everything is applicable everywhere (tell that to the Russians and Iraqis) shouldn't you be telling the Swiss that the fact that they keep their M-16s (read: high-output firearms) at home after their military service is negatively affecting their domestic tranquility, low crime-rate and all?
MTA is not a transit company. It's a gathering of extortionists and mobsters. The people cleaning the platforms make nearly 50% more than post-docs at NY research institutions... and the MTA employees are going to be getting something like 4% per year raises for the next 3 years... EVERY YEAR... at a time when mean salaries are plumetting, and the MTA is about to raise the fares twice in one calendar year. Fuck 'em.
Haven't run into any problems w. Vista64. All of my 32-bit Steam-delivered games run just fine, as well as a small variety of other software. What doesn't work for you?
I prefer stability, and usability to an extra 5% FPS. My previous XP installation would crash 3-4 times per month with heavy gaming. I don't play that much, but my Vista install has yet to crash since last November... a feat even my Ubuntu installation has not matched.
Also, I find that XP will slow down drastically over time, even with no additional services installed, and while it's lightning fast post-install, it'll slow down considerably over 3-6 months. Vista doesn't do that.