Adobe declined to comment, saying it will make another announcement in several months.

Symantec is only releasing free Vista patches for the latest versions of products such as Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton Confidential, which are only available to current subscribers. Users of utility products that don't require a subscription, such as Norton Ghost and Norton Save & Restore, will have to purchase the next version to get Vista compatibility.

Vista's compatibility mode imperfect, admits one vendor

Meanwhile, Intuit is only guaranteeing that 2007 versions of its popular Quicken and QuickBooks finance software -- both released last fall -- will work on Vista.

Intuit has no plans to correct problems in older versions of its software, nor offer free support to users of those older versions.