Quote Originally Posted by doc_bean
Why does Windows require a fancy 3D card ?
Vista is going to do something OS X has been doing for a few years now -- offload the screen redraws onto the video card. In other words, your GeForce or Radeon will do the transparencies and effects in your folder windows. So even though they say you must have a 3D card, I expect it won't be the 3D part that's being used. More likely the shaders, eh?

I don't know how much efficiency the video card brings to the navigation of windows. Even with hardware acceleration, Finder is a bit of a drugged moose in OS X. Perhaps Ballamer, Gates & Co. will do it better.