Off the top of my head: Windows Vista was slow and unstable on a lot of hardware of the time due to significantly higher system requirements than XP and a new display driver model that worked poorly at first, had a very polarizing look, and had quite overbearing UAC -- where XP would just let you do the thing, Vista would ask you three times if you're really really sure you wanted to authorize it.
It had decent bones though -- arguably a lot of its bad reputation was due to hardware/third party driver issues and people trying to run it on old hardware that just couldn't hack it. Windows 7 was well received and is basically the same thing with small improvements and some of the UX issues smoothed over (i.e. less annoying UAC)
Windows Vista was also notorious for going overboard with translucency effects in the default "Aero" style
My memory is that it was named "Aero Glass" which heightens the irony of "Liquid Glass" sucking.
But I see many references to it being called just "Aero", but some call it "Aero Glass" [1]
Does anyone know the truth?
[1] https://www.pcmag.com/archive/rip-aero-glass-windows-8-stick...
Microsoft marketing maybhave had a specific preference, but "Aero" and "Aero Glass" are interchangeable. From the same article you linked:
> "Rest in peace, Aero. I liked you, a lot. Still do. And I'll miss you," Thurrott writes