Screw proprietary software. You don't get this kind of bull with Open Source.
Of course you also don't get Microsoft Physics Illustrator - off the top of my head I don't know of a free alternative (but hey, have a hunt!).
A kludgy workaround that springs to mind would be to use virtualisation so that you could actually install a virtual tablet on your XP box. Of course the licensing cost is a bit prohibitive and it's awkward and resource hungry ... but welcome to Microsoft World.
