Softpedia offers this article about Vista and the spying it does.

I think if anyone is surprised by anything in this article they do not follow the industry. At all. This is a trend that is everywhere from the biggest companies to the smallest, well-meaning individuals. Can I blame Microsoft for collecting certain information? The line is blurred but my answer is still a “no”. It makes perfect business sense and can lead to better software– not that I mean to imply it will in this case. Microsoft has always seemed to go in 100 different directions at once and found themselves scrambling at the last moments only using the required information. I am not trying to say this information will go to waste but I highly doubt we will see any direct, positive results in their software.

Of course one can always hope.