Vista looks better than it sounds for unhappy Dell users who thought they bought Creative Audigy sound cards with their new laptops. When they upgraded to Vista, users discovered they’d really purchased Audigy software, which wasn’t compatible with the new OS. Users have been giving both Dell and Creative an earful about it on their support forums. Dell says it’s now shipping Vista-friendly versions of the Audigy software, but legacy customers may be out of luck. Even then, some gamers may not get the aural satisfaction they’re used to, thanks to changes in how Vista handles audio. Get a new OS and your old stuff no longer works. Sounds awfully familiar.

DOT’s all, folks: Cringely confidant Ross G. has unearthed an interesting memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation. It seems that the DOT has put the kibosh on all upgrades to Vista, Office 2007, or IE7 for at least another six months. The document’s money sentence: “There appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new Microsoft software products.” No problems with Washingtonian double-speak there.

Fuzzy logic: Reader Blake L. takes exception to the swings I took at Wikipedia in a recent column. If he’s mad at me, he must be really ticked off at golfer Fuzzy Zoeller, who’s suing an anonymous Wikipedian for editing the PGA tour winner’s entry to say he was a wife-beating drug addict. (As far as we know, he isn’t.) Guess it’s time to remove those edits I made to the Bill Gates entry about Satan worship.

It’s Comcastic: Cringefan John M. recently received a nastygram from Comcast’s legal beagles claiming that he had downloaded an illegal copy of Epic Movie. He says the address where the alleged piracy took place is 1,600 miles from his house, or kind of a long hike for a lousy movie. He’s still waiting for the MPAA police -- or possibly a disapproving Roger Ebert -- to show up at his door.

Send hot tips or copies of good movies to cringe@infoworld.com and you may receive an epic bag in return.