Update: restarted, figured out WMDC uninstall / reinstall no change...
I did get the procedure down to get WMDC to open, and say "connecting" but then "ERROR".....
When playing with the handheld itself, I noticed a few things that seem to go along with this issue..... leading me to believe the PPC itself is the issue, not vista (this goes along with the whole same issue on 2 PC's, 1 XP, 1 vista...) in the ppc, in file explorer, I cannot cut or copy and paste ANY file or folder..... it gives me a cannot transfer file, maybe not enough memory, (87.10mb free storage, 22.80mb free; program) or you may not have permissions (or something like that) this also goes along with the error I get when trying to transfer files off of the ppc in "my computer"...... sigh I am going to call sprint PDA tech support, see how much worse they can make it......