32 bit Vista Ultimate with service pack one sees 8GB of RAM installed

[HDTV1080P]

What is up with Vista 32 bit edition? I have read several technical books and newsletters over the past 2 years that mentions that Windows 32 bit will only see or use up to 4GB of memory. To test this I installed XP onto a PC that had 8GB of memory. Windows XP saw only 3.5GB of memory installed out of 8GB. Then I installed 32 bit Vista Ultimate with service pack 1 and the 32 bit Vista reported that it saw 8GB of RAM. This can be very confusing for consumers, even though Vista 32 bit sees 8GB of actual RAM installed it can only address a maximum under ideal conditions of 4GB or less. Microsoft should change the Windows property screen so that it shows both the actual memory installed and the actual useable memory.
Currently I am using 8GB of memory with 64 bit Vista Ultimate so that I take full advantage of 8GB of DDR3 memory running at 1600MHZ.