Why the hate for Windows Vista?

I've had it for almost 6 years and never had an issue.

Do you really want to copy this file?
Are you sure?
Think again... really?
Are you absolutely sure?
Insert admin password, ask your local police department and sacrifice a virgin to continue.

Also extremely buggy, poor performance and lots of security holes even after most patches. Several issues with the registry management which could seriously hinder performances and stability after a year of use if you're don't know how to keep a computer well (which most people don't). Useless 64 bits capability with even worse performance in return. Remember that was priced at more than $200, if you didn't got it OEM.

Most common complaints about Vista:

1. It wasn't really ready for release when it was released (many patches were needed for it to work well).
2. Too high minimal requirements (possible to reduce to even below WinXP after some work though; except for disc space).
3. Default UAC settings were terrible - system was asking for confirmation way too often when reconfiguring system or doing basic jobs (for example as per point 2).
4. System is scanning every big executable when starting from non-privileged mode... meaning for example game installer in one file on DVD was taking ages to load.
5. Bad default settings.
6. Some new functions were hidden from access.
7. Many GUI and function changes - many people don't like changes.
8. Massive compatibility problems with programs made before (and many also after) Vista - trying to make them working again takes ages to learn 4-5 basic rules for them.
9. Some minor driver problems.
10. 64b before updates... :) Also no PAE support for 32b versions... that's a joke.

There were several major improvements in Vista but well, you asked for consso I won't change subject. In my opinion points:

• 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 were major problems for professionals;
• 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 were major problems for average users;
• 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 were bad for users updating system from previous release;
• 1, 9, 10 were bad for users modifying their hardware;
• 6, 7 were problematic for people trying new functions.

Some issues were fixed in update process but not all of course. Also possibly some new issues were introduced. Some people simply hate Microsoft of course and some other hate just to hate :)
Of course that's only my opinion after 3-4 years with Vista. I worked also with:

• Windows: 95, 98, ME, XP, 7, 8 and 8.1, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2013;
• Linux:
  • Debian - all major versions from 5 up;
  • Ubuntu - most major releases from 11.04 up, including some server editions;
  • some random distributions based on needs;
• Solaris 10 and 11.

I think my opinion may be worth something after all.

It's ok, but it wasn't ready when it launched.
It's not the abortion everyone makes it out to be NOW, but back when it was released, it was awful. It is still however, nowhere near as good as Windows 7 or 8 or XP that came before it.

From another perspective: Windows 7 is what Winodws Vista should have been.
All the good things, none of the weird performance issues and incompatibility issues that cropped up. (To be fair, most of the performance issues is were with accessing network file shares/remote desktops etc. - if this is a home/gaming machine you tend not to use that stuff too much).
Large part of that is also giving hardware vendors enough time to update drivers etc. Not so much a problem with the software as it was with the planning and marketing around it.

Performance issues due to unnecessary Aero (can be turned off)
UAC (can also be turned off)
And just generally being incomplete - Windows 7 was Windows Vista done correctly.

It was junk, why do you think MS dropped it so quick.

Why? Because Windows 7 is better in all the aspects, period.

Bad launch, took forever to get it nice and stable working with everything, I had it when it came out, had to get rid of it, was so bad....

Typing this from a 7 year old vista pc. Sure, vista gets annoying sometimes and eats up lots of ram but haven't had too many problems with it. It's maybe not as good as XP was when it came out. I say its overhated.
Every OS has it's problems. Maybe vista had a few more but nothing too serious. It works fine. This is still my main game pc.

oh well... I had a laptop with Vista, after booting half of the whole RAM was already gone (no apps opened!)
never happened with win7

Never heard of Vista and still I survived

Drivers were one of the major problems. NVIDIA drivers alone were the cause of a large percent of Vista crashes near release. A lot of hardware didn't even have drivers for the new OS.

But I've used Vista for years, long after 7 came out (and I had a license of 7 since release) and it worked fine. I wouldn't go back to Vista now, but if I was forced to choose between Vista and XP I'd choose Vista in a heartbeat.

it had a rocky start

Because Windows Vista kills baby deers. With a shovel.

Because it was shit at launch, simple as that, it was such a wreck that most people just stayed on XP and waited, it's not like Vista had a long life cycle or anything. It's not that people actually "hate" Vista or anything, there's just no reason to use it when Windows 7 is so much better.