But WHY is that crash capable of taking out the entire OS in the process?!
I thought that was supposed to be one of the things Vista would improve. Traditionally, graphics drivers were a major source of crashes. They were allowed direct access to hardware in the interest of maximum speed. This meant they could indeed crash the entire system and the OS was unable to prevent it.
On the other hand, Microsoft have always bent over backwards to accomodate misbehaving programs. Windows contains a staggering amount of code to work around known bugs in major applications. This benefits users in the short term. Their programs work. But over the years the OS becomes a creaking mass of unmaintainable hacks.
I think at some point they have to say enough is enough and start fresh, like Apple did.