Vista has a voice program but I've never used it so I don't have any hands-on info for you.

Vista *is* the problem. The best thing your son can do is demand that they give him XP instead. I'm a beta tester for MS and am currently running Vista, RC1 upgrade 2. My version, from what I've seen and read, runs better than the final release version and that's not saying much. Vista is a major resource hog, a lot of the drivers don't work properly if at all. Most of the programs that ran on XP will not run on Vista. Although, you might try installing DNS under compatibility mode and running it that way. I've never really gotten the compatibility mode to work properly in my version of Vista.

My advice to anyone considering Vista: Not at this point. Wait. Either they'll fix it or it'll bomb. At this time it appears to be bombing. Not just with the general public either but even big corporations are avoiding Vista like the plague.