As usual I think that sentiment was retroactive, certainly once Vista came out. At launch, people hated the Fisher-Price look of the Luna default UI. Like, a lot. The switch to the NT based kernel for the home version of Windows also caused a shitton of people's hardware and peripherals not to work anymore because they needed new drivers and the manufacturers of said gadgets -- if they were still in business -- could not be arsed. Some of this could be alleviated by bullying that hardware's Windows 2000 drivers into working with XP. Some of it could not.