Here's another vote for XP
Or better yet, linux. I went to just linux for a while. My PC suffered a complete meltdown [china syndrome'd it's way through the HD during a repartition] and since I had a blank drive and a copy of Suse linux handy... Well, that seemed like the perfect time
I absolutely loved it. Yes, it's different, but that's a good thing. You'll need to learn everything. It all works slightly different. Installing a simple program will take you an hour! You will be dazed and confused trying to find the resolution! Volume control? It's in there! Where? Nobody knows!
Yeah, when I get my new laptop - I'm definitely going dual boot with winxp pro.