Fast On-Off Vista feature flawed

A feature of Vista that’s almost passed unnoticed is the fast on-off “promise”, which is described in a Microsoft fact sheet thus :

Fast On-Off : A Windows Vista-based PC will turn on and off as quickly and reliably as a TV set — typically within 2–3 seconds. A simple one-click button will initiate the default power transition to Sleep/off in Windows Vista, enabling a consumer electronics-like on-off experience. A submenu will provide access to restart, shutdown and configuration options.

David Berlind of Microsoft Vistulations, makes the point that many IM clients, for example, hog a lot of system resources during startup, as do other proprietary software. Each computer will have a different mix, and will be as fast as its slowest loader allows. Fast on-off may turn out to be a damp squib.