Vista can be harder to use than XP if you don't understand how the file ownership and permissions work.
In overall, Vista is a bit harder than XP, but nothing so hard.
In resource,s it need 512MB+ RAM, a good processor (don't remember the minimal specis, try www.ati.com that it has a navigator-based program that can define if your pc can run vista) and a video card around an ATI Radeon 9600 to run with all aero glass features.
In safety area, it is like MACOS, that asks for a lot of actions to be performed, like activating and deactivating MCAfee Antivirus. It is safer than XP was.
I really recommend Windows Vista.
Any questions?
My pc has a rating of 3.8 (from video card in gaming) as it is now.
Specs: Intel P4 HT 3.2GHz, 1GB RAM DDR and ATI Radeon 9600XT 128mb
02-Dec-2006