Best of the blogs: Microsoft ran away with the GripeLog’s Worst Vendor of 2007, garnering 21 percent of the vote. Comcast, Dell, Apple, Symantec also ranked up there, and the list goes on. “But looking behind the numbers and the exit poll comments, some intriguing trends suggest the direction our gripes may be taking in 2008,” Ed Foster writes in this Gripe Line post. “Let me risk a small prediction. I bet next year Comcast beats Microsoft handily. And, barring events on the ground that would radically shift the paradigm, I also expect we’ll see the Verizons and AT&Ts rise above the Symantecs and Dells in terms of volume of gripes, and their intensity.” Who do you predict will take the worst vendor cake next year? Talkback via the comments function below or follow the link above. Special report: Since launching the Save Windows XP campaign, more than 75,000 people have signed the petition and some even state that the new OS is causing panic among their users. Why people hate Vista. “Some users have decided to skip Vista altogether and instead wait for Windows 7, whose release date has been reported as anywhere between 2009 and 2011, Galen Gruman reports. “Why shoot yourself in the foot twice? Windows 7 will be out next year; I’ll wait till then,” commented one InfoWorld reader. SMBs: While virtualization is largely aimed at the enterprise, more and more vendors and analysts are talking about how SMBs can harness the technology, Curtis Franklin reports from InfoWorld’s own Virtualization Forum in San Francisco. But smaller companies ought to also be prepared for their own virtualization success. Virtualization: The SMB take. “I’m not saying that you need to over-build everything on the assumption that you’ll be the next Google by sometime next month, but you should make sure that your IT infrastructure is up to the task of supporting your customers and partners even if they all decide to respond to your marketing.” Related: Editor’s letter: Venturing into the virtual world. Software Development